Intelligent and Responsive Buildings

Research Roadmap

Intelligent and Responsive Buildings

Publication 415

This publication is written in association with CIBSE Intelligent Buildings Group.

2

Title Research Roadmap for Intelligent and Responsive Buildings

Serial title 415

Year 2018

Editor Derek Clements-Croome

Language English

Pages 67 p.

Key words Intelligent Buildings, Technology, Health, Wellbeing, Liveability, Biophilia, Infrastructure, Holistic design, Sustainability

ISBN 978-90-803022-9-7

Publisher CIB General Secretariat Van der Burghweg 1 2628 CS, Delft The Netherlands E-mail [email protected]

Credit Cover photo: The Believe in Better Building for Sky by Arup Associates; zero fossil fuel to site, zero carbon in construction, adopting reduce/re-use/recycle with advanced user-centred design and operation.

3

CIB W098 Research Roadmap for Intelligent and Responsive Buildings

Table of Contents

1. .............................................................................................................................. Conceptual

Framework ............................................................................................................................... 6

Derek Clements-Croome

School of the Built Environment, University of Reading, Reading, UK

School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, UK

2. Future of Intelligent Buildings: A Critical Debate on Key Performance Indicators ...... 10

Amirhosein Ghaffarianhoseini1, Derek Clements-Croome2, Ali Ghaffarianhoseini1, Husam

AlWaer3, John Tookey1 1Department of Built Environment Engineering, Auckland University of Technology,

Auckland, New Zealand 2School of the Built Environment, University of Reading, Reading, UK 3School of Social Sciences (Architecture & Planning), University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

2.1 Conceptual framework ...................................................................................................... 10

2.2 State of the Art .................................................................................................................. 11

2.3 Future scenario .................................................................................................................. 11

2.4 Development strategy ....................................................................................................... 11

2.5 Research Contribution ...................................................................................................... 12

2.6 Research Agenda .............................................................................................................. 12

3. Health and Wellbeing oriented Indoor Built Environments for Future Intelligent

Buildings ................................................................................................................................ 14

Quan Jin, Holger Wallbaum

Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology,

Gothenburg, Sweden

3.1 Status quo .......................................................................................................................... 14

3.2 Research and Development ............................................................................................... 17

3.3 Future Horizons ................................................................................................................ 17

4. Technology Aware Workplaces ......................................................................................... 20

Matthew Marson, Head of Smart Buildings, WSP

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 20

4.2 The changing roles of technology in the workplace ..................................................... 20

4.3 Wellness & Productivity ................................................................................................... 21

4.4 Social Collaborations & Space Optimisation ............................................................... 22

4.5 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 221

4

5. Daylight in Intelligent Sustainable Architecture .............................................................. 24

Juergen Koch, 4 Green Architecture Ltd. London

5.1 In general - Daylight and its Importance: ......................................................................... 24

5.2 "Daylight can not be replaced by anything" ..................................................................... 24

5.3 What can be done better to use the sun and daylight more intelligent? ............................ 26

5.4 Conclusion: ....................................................................................................................... 28

6. Intelligent Infrastructure ................................................................................................... 30

Mark Worall, University of Nottingham, UK

6.1 Conceptual framework:..................................................................................................... 30

6.2 State of the Art .................................................................................................................. 32

6.3 Future scenarios ............................................................................................................... 38

6.4 Development strategy ....................................................................................................... 39


6.6 Research Agenda .............................................................................................................. 41

7. Sustainable urban transportation in intelligent cities ...................................................... 44

Xingxing Zhang, Dalarna University, Sweden

7.1 Air quality in underground built environment .................................................................. 44

8. Keeping Abreast with Technology ..................................................................................... 50

Eva D'Souza, CH2M and Jacobs

9. Digital Futures ................................................................................................................... 51

Peter McDermott, Mott MacDonald

9.1 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 51

9.2 State of the Art .................................................................................................................. 51

9.3 Future Scenarios ............................................................................................................... 51

9.4 Development Strategy....................................................................................................... 52


9.6 Research Agenda .............................................................................................................. 53

10. Upskilling for technology enhanced collaborative working ........................................... 54

Tong Yang, Faculty of Science & Technology, Middlesex University, UK

Rosangela Tenorio, School of Design, University of Western Australia, Australia

10.1 nD capacity of BIM ........................................................................................................ 54

10.2 Creative play and collaborative learning ........................................................................ 55

10.3 Upskilling and managing changes .................................................................................. 55

10.4 Open source intelligent buildings and social infrastructure for the future ..................... 57

5

11. Wellbeing homes .............................................................................................................. 59

Pete Halsall, international_haus

12. Bioelectromagnetic Design .............................................................................................. 61

Isaac Jamieson, Biosustainable Design

12.1 Conceptual framework:................................................................................................... 61

12.2 State of the Art .............................................................................................................. 61

12.3. Future scenario .............................................................................................................. 63

12.4 Development strategy .................................................................................................... 63

12.5 Research Contribution .................................................................................................... 64

12.6. Research Agenda ........................................................................................................... 64

Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 65


School of the Built Environment, University of Reading, Reading, UK

School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, UK

6

1. Conceptual Framework


An intelligent building is one that is responsive to the

requirements of occupants, organisations and society.

It is sustainable in terms of energy and water consumptions besides

being lowly polluting in terms of emissions and waste: healthy in

terms of well-being for the people living and working within it;

and functional according to the user needs.

Clements-Croome, 2009

Intelligent buildings need to be sustainable. This means sustaining their performance with respect

to energy, water, waste and pollution for future generations. Beyond this, intelligent buildings

should be healthy places to live and work in; be equipped with appropriate reliable technology;

meet regulations; respond to the needs of the occupants; be flexible, adaptable and durable; give

value for money. Architecture provides landmarks in our civilization so their visual appeal remains

important too.

Buildings will contain a variety of systems designed by people, and yet the relationship between

buildings and people can only work satisfactorily if there is integration between the supply (design

consultants, contractors and manufacturers) and demand (developers, building owners and

occupants) side stakeholders as well as between the occupants, the systems and the building.

Systems thinking is essential in planning, design and management, together with the ability to

create and innovate whilst remaining practical. All this requires holistic thinking. Table 1

summarises the main characteristics of holistic thing in contrast to an atomistic approach.

Table 1: Atomistic Technical and Holistic Socio-technical Approaches to the Built

Environment [based on Munro 2011]

Atomistic Holistic

Nature • Narrow: concentrates on

individual elements

• Broad: elements seen as

inter-related;

interoperability

important

Perspective • Individual systems in

isolation

• Single discipline

outlook

• Whole system

• Interdisciplinary and

transdisciplinary

outlook

Cause and Effect • Looking only at

immediate effects

• Short chains of causality

• Separated in space and

time

• Long chains of

causality, ripple effects,

unintended

consequences, feedback

effects

7

Style of

Recommendations

• Technocratic

• Regulation and

compliance

• Socio-technical

• Beyond regulations

Results (observed and

sought)

• Narrow range of

responses to

user’s needs

• Defensive management

of risk

• Command and

control management;

frameworks and

procedures; squeezing

out professional

discretion and creativity

• Compliance culture

• Focus on standardised

processes, frameworks

and procedures

• Flexible responses to

meeting user’s needs

• Acceptance of

irreducible risk

• Supportive management

encouraging creativity,

discovery and enterprise

• Comprehensive

feedback

• Focus on building users

their needs with

pathways giving high

value outcomes such as

good well-being and

high productivity

A lot of terms are used. Should we say intelligent or smart buildings? Then there is the sentient

building which describes how well the building responds to the occupants changing needs. A

sentient building should be measured continually with a sensor network which can predict and also

activate change according to circumstances and user preferences. With respect to cities, the

automation and digital aspects especially in information and communications technology are the

smart elements which are important but a building needs also to respond to social and

environmental factors and this features the language of low tech passive environmental design. An

intelligent building increases the environmental socio-economic value (see Fig. 1).

8

Figure 1. Key constituents of Intelligent Buildings [Clements-Croome 2013, p. 289].

The ultimate objective should be simplicity rather than complexity and this is best achieved by

naturally responsive architecture. This not only requires technical ability but also the powers of

interpretation, imagination and even intuition. Building Regulations can stifle creations but are

necessary to set a minimum level of expectation and obey health and safety requirements. However

we should aim to design well above these conditions. After all, buildings form our architectural

landscape and they, and the environment they generate, should uplift the soul and the spirit of those

people within them as well as those who pass by them. Clements-Croome [2018] proposes a

Flourish model as a model for user centred design.

The creation of shared visions, effective teams, clear and robust design and management processes

ensures that the intelligent building will effectively demonstrate in use the purpose for which it was

conceived. Times are changing as technology and society evolve so there needs to be a long term

outlook by the team. Key innovation issues for intelligent buildings include sustainability (energy,

water, waste and pollution), the use of 3D and 4D printing technologies, the use of information and

communication technology, robotics, embedded sensor technology, smart-materials technology

including nanotechnology, health in the workplace and social change.

Facades using smart materials for example will provide sophisticated forms of feedback and high

levels of control besides regulating heat air and light transmissions. By coating and embedding

materials with nano-particles we will be able to specify material properties much more easily

[Pacheco-Torgal et al 2013; Pacheco-Torgal and Labrincha 2013]. Structures with zinc oxide nano

coatings for example can accelerate heat dissipation. Self-healing materials will revolutionize

facades in the future. Pelletier and Bose [2010] describe how a concrete matrix embedded with

capsules of sodium silicate healing agent can repair cracks by the sodium silicate from the ruptured

9

capsules interacting with the calcium hydroxide in the concrete to form a gel which seals the cracks.

In contrast one must not forget that basic materials like hemp, straw, rammed earth, waste

composites and wool and seaweed bricks all offer sustainable solution possibilities. Cloth made

from lotus stems was reported in the Financial Times 9 March 5th/6th 2011. Novacem concrete is

a low embodied energy material developed at Imperial College in London. In the future graphene

new material can be expected to make its impact on façade designs.

However innovation should be an enabler rather than an end in itself. Passive environmental design

is equally important so that the energy demands are minimized by using natural means such as

mass, orientation and building form to capture sunlight, fresh air and rain water. But we cannot

ignore the rapid developments in digital technology. In the words of the Hong Kong architect James

Law:

In the 21st Century, buildings will be different from 20th Century. They are no

longer about concrete, steel and glass, but also the new intangible materials of

technology, multimedia, intelligence and interactivity. Only recognizing this

will bring a new form of architecture to light, namely a Cybertecture.

References

Clements-Croome, D. J. (2013). Intelligent Buildings: Design, Management and Operation. 2nd

ed. London: ICE Publishing.

Clements-Croome, D. (ed.). (2018). Creating the Productive Workplace: Places to Work

Creatively. 3rd edn. London & New York: Taylor & Francis.

10

2. Future of Intelligent Buildings: A Critical Debate on Key Performance Indicators

Amirhosein Ghaffarianhoseini, Derek Clements-Croome Ali Ghaffarianhoseini, Husam AlWaer,

John Tookey

2.1 Conceptual framework

In recent years, design and implementation of greener and smarter buildings has indicated growing

trends [Ghaffarianhoseini et al. 2016; Xie et al. 2017]. This is evidently observed in several recent

practices globally, on top of the significantly increased number of research publications in the areas

of sustainable and intelligent buildings.

Notwithstanding the widely well-known concepts of green, sustainable and intelligent buildings,

their embedded essence and ultimate impacts are evolving and adjusting to cultural and social

changes. Current body of literature confirms that, advancement of intelligent buildings (IBs) is

frequently claimed to be a promising solution towards achieving enhanced building performance.

While being efficiently equipped with state of the art technologies, ICT, and automated systems,

IBs are highly responsive to the needs of their occupants besides being optimally operational. IBs

have also proven to be capable of deploying sustainable design initiatives to enhance the overall

performance of buildings and maintain an acceptable level of occupant comfort [Ghaffarianhoseini

et al. 2016; Clements-Croome 2013]. Nevertheless, IBs have been interpreted in many diversified

ways. This complex has led to the true potential of IBs not being fully revealed [Ghaffarianhoseini

et al. 2016; Clements-Croome 2013]. Research endeavours to shed light on the state of the art of

IBs, the most crucial agendas related to their current development, along with their future

directions, as illustrated in Figure 2. As initially suggested by AlWaer and Clements-Croome

[2010] who developed a detailed set of

Figure 2. State-of-the-art Overview of Pathways towards Formation of Future IBs

key performance indicators (KPIs) for IBs and later expanded by Ghaffarianhoseini et al [2016],

and Clements-Croome [2018] to include health and wellbeing and urban scale responses.

11

2.2 State of the Art

Several recent studies endeavoured to define IBs, identify their core attributes and set platforms for

analyzing their effectiveness [Clements-Croome 2018]. Concerning one of the most recent

representation of IBs, six main KPIs are defined [Ghaffarianhoseini 2016]:

KPI-1) Smartness and Technology Awareness,

KPI-2) Economicst and Cost Efficiency to give high value,

KPI-3) Personal and Social Sensitivity and,

KPI-4) Environmental Responsiveness.

KPI-5) Health &Well-Being and,

KPI-6) Urban-Scale Responsiveness.

IBs should go beyond automation and performance dimensions, in order to address a multi-

dimensional set of criteria. This proposal suggests integration with emerging technologies in order

for IBs to become more responsive to users’ needs, value driven and productive [Clements-Croome

2018]. These are on top of becoming adequately adaptable to social and technological changes.

This pathway to achieving smarter environments not only requires deploying cutting edge

technologies (i.e. use of augmented reality (AR), intelligent energy management systems and/or

electroencephalography (EEG) integration) [Vecchiato et al. 2015; Zhou et al. 2016], new design

initiatives (i.e. biomimicry design) [Zari 2016] and advanced digital systems (i.e. real-time data

sensor integrations) but also needs smarter users and professionals. Therefore, it is important to

clarify the interrelated and collective roles of users and communities plus enlightening the

interconnected responsibilities of professionals and academicians, in order to achieve the outlined

targets.

2.3 Future scenario

Are we aware of the current challenges and drawbacks towards development of solid future IBs?

Do we know the exact degree of necessity on the progression of future IBs?

Are construction professionals and building scientists aware of their role in development and

maximizing the ultimate impacts of future IBs?

With the focus of recent studies on the sick building syndrome and the need for healthy buildings

[Xie et al. 2017; Clements-Croome 2018; Heidari et al. 2017], the significance of developing

healthier IBs, to achieve a higher level of comfort, well-being and productivity [Clements-Croome

2017], is emphasized on. Indeed, the healthy design concept is foreseen to become a focal element

for future development of buildings. This is primarily based on its potentials for health

improvement, users satisfaction and the associated economic gains. Besides, as smart cities are

becoming a main focus of governmental sectors [Deakin & Al Waer 2012; Albino et al. 2015],

there is a fundamental need to fill the existing gap between IBs and the smart urban future. As a

result, IBs should also be evaluated from an urban-scale perspective to ensure their contribution at

city-level. In fact, proliferation of IBs plays a key role towards achieving a truly smart city. This is

clearly alongside the urgency for smart infrastructures [Albino et al. 2015]

2.4 Development strategy

Future IBs demand coherent incorporation of cutting-edge digital technologies and building design

in order for their true benefits to be extended. In particular, with the emergence of AR in the

architectural context, from conceptual design and development to the operational phase, integration

12

of AR can be an inherent attribute of future IBs. IBs, as the embodiment of highly automated living

environments, can become more operationally resourceful and user friendly once deploying AR.

Visualizing real-time building and city data in an indoor living environment can be seen as a basis

for new methods of maximizing IBs’ potentials based on the virtual interactions of users, buildings

and urban areas. On the other side, with the emergence of robotics in architectural design and

construction, IBs can not only benefit from a more efficient development process (i.e. use of

robotics in off-site construction, prefabrication phases and parametric design), but can also be

equipped with robot-assisting living environments during the operational phase to enhance safety,

security and comfort. Furthermore, from a neuroscience perspective, future IBs not only need to

be aware of their impacts on comfort, well-being and satisfaction of occupants, but also should be

cognizant of occupants’ mood, sensation and feeling via monitoring the brain responses of their

users using EEG. Meanwhile, the importance of integrating IBs with Building Information

Modelling (BIM) for life-cycle design, operation and maintenance of buildings is signified

[Ghaffarianhosein et al. 2017]. Thus, presenting an interdisciplinary development strategy, IBs of

future will push the current boundaries to autonomously receive and analyze the real-time impacts

of their embedded living environments on the mental responses of theirs users and their health

status, plus their influence in the urban-scale performance of the city. This can result in

development of ultra-healthy IBs for more tangible contribution to the well-being of occupants and

the performance of a city.

2.5 Research Contribution

IBs should be seen as a research-based evolutionary entity that requires continuous upgrade and

incorporation of new initiatives both from professional practice and academic perspectives.

Literature presents that IBs were repeatedly suggested to become the main umbrella encompassing

several targets for achieving green, energy efficient, zero energy, zero carbon, smart and digital

built environments. This allows synchronizing all attributes in one set of database for a collective

contribution to the next stages of IB development. Above this contemplation, to the best knowledge

of the authors, no or very insignificant number of studies have attempted to discuss the gap between

IBs and smart cities. In fact, for achieving intelligent urban areas as part of a smart city [Albino et

al. 2015], despite the existence of several drawbacks towards a massive proliferation of IBs in an

urban area, with the aim of large-scale contribution to the goals of smart city, more in-depth

analysis on IBs is required to be carried out.

2.6 Research Agenda

There is no doubt that a key agenda of the 21th century is to amplify the awareness and propose

practical solutions regarding the impacts of rapid urbanization [Lehmann 2017]. While to some

extent, the rapid urban growth in many mega cities and their surrounding context is inevitable, this

study suggests that utilization of IBs, once fully assessed from both building and urban scale

perspectives, can provide significant positive impacts. In particular, the study demonstrates that

IBs embrace a huge capacity for reducing the negative environmental impacts of urbanization,

balancing the digital lifestyle of users with living and working environments plus providing

healthier indoor living environments and urban communities. The conceptual framework also

implies that IBs can be the central point for formation of smart communities and their large-scale

performance besides their real-time data integration at city level can uplift the performance of a

city. Likewise, it is elaborated that integration of BIM, AR technology, robotic-based environments

and neuroscience-based building design are four core lines of future IB developments. These new

dimensions of IBs create a wide platform for more in-depth interdisciplinary research to create the

IBs of future from architecture, building construction, digital technology and ICT to urban design,

13

city planning and computational parametric modelling.

References

Albino, V., Berardi, U., &Dangelico, R. M. (2015). Smart cities: Definitions, dimensions,

performance, and initiatives. Journal of Urban Technology, 22(1), 3-21.

Al Waer, H., & Clements-Croome, D. J. (2010). Key performance indicators (KPIs) and priority

setting in using the multi-attribute approach for assessing sustainable intelligent buildings.

Building and Environment, 45(4), 799-807.

Clements-Croome, D. J. (2013). Intelligent Buildings: Design, Management and Operation. 2nd

ed. London: ICE Publishing.



Deakin, M., & Al Waer, H. (Eds.). (2012). From intelligent to smart cities. Routledge.

Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Berardi, U., Al Waer, H., Chang, S., Halawa, E., Ghaffarianhoseini, A., &

Clements-Croome, D. (2016). What is an intelligent building? Analysis of recent

interpretations from an international perspective. Architectural Science Review, 59(5), 338-

357.

Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Tookey, J., Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Naismith, N., Azhar, S., Efimova, O., &

Raahemifar, K. (2017). Building Information Modelling (BIM) uptake: Clear benefits,

understanding its implementation, risks and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy

Reviews, 75, 1046-1053.

Heidari, L., Younger, M., Chandler, G., Gooch, J., & Schramm, P. (2017). Integrating health into

buildings of the future. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 139(1), 010802.

Lehmann, S. (2017). Conceptualising the Urban Nexus framework for a circular economy: linking

energy, water, food and waste (EWFW) in Southeast-Asian cities. In Urban Energy

Transition: from Fossil Fuels to Renewable Power. Elsevier.

Vecchiato, G., Tieri, G., Jelic, A., De Matteis, F., Maglione, A. G., & Babiloni, F. (2015).

Electroencephalographic correlates of sensorimotor integration and embodiment during the

appreciation of virtual architectural environments. Frontiers in psychology, 6.

Xie, H., Clements-Croome, D., & Wang, Q. (2017). Move beyond green building: A focus on

healthy, comfortable, sustainable and aesthetical architecture. Intelligent Buildings

International, 9(2), 88-96.

Zari, M. P. (2016). Mimicking ecosystems for bio-inspired intelligent urban built

environments. Intelligent Buildings International, 8(2), 57-77.

Zhou, B., Li, W., Chan, K. W., Cao, Y., Kuang, Y., Liu, X., & Wang, X. (2016). Smart home

energy management systems: Concept, configurations, and scheduling strategies. Renewable

and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 61, 30-40.

14

3. Health and Wellbeing oriented Indoor Built Environments for Future Intelligent

Buildings

Quan Jin, Holger Wallbaum

Highlight

Aiming to improve the quality of life for living, learning, curing and working in future intelligent

buildings in terms of offering advanced indoor built environments, which takes advantage of

reliable and supportive technologies, and is rooted in evidence and resilient design thinking and

human real demands targeting human health and wellbeing along with low environmental impact

and high economic performance over the whole building lifecycle.

Scope

Considering “health and wellbeing” in intelligent buildings, ecologically sustainable design,

indoor environmental qualities, smart metering and control strategies, energy efficient

technologies as well as user demand are interrelated closely. This chapter discusses the key

features for human health and wellbeing in buildings as well as research gaps between the real

perception from user side and the measured building performance. Key research questions are put

forward that need to be answered. Research and development concerning knowledge, tools and

technologies are initiated. Finally, new horizons for the future built indoor environment of

intelligent buildings are depicted.

3.1 Status quo

Looking back on the progress of intelligent buildings since the year 2000, the content of quality of

life and users’ interactions have been being taken into play as one of the evolutionary strategies.

Quality of life makes contributions to the key performance indicators of social well-being and

economic efficiency and the specific visions of human health and well-being are one of the key

criterions in intelligent buildings’ classification. Particularly in next generation office buildings,

user-oriented lower carbon footprint, and resilient office design solutions are to be implemented

for future. A circular design process instead of conventional linear design is created to holistically

integrate multidiscipline and diagnose the real demand from users and stakeholders during the

whole building lifecycle [Cobaleda Cordero et al., 2018].

Human health and wellbeing are more commonly known as a positive factor to human

productivity in particular for offices [Wargocki et al., 2000; Fisk, 2000]. Productivity is one of the

key drivers taking the utmost benefits to building stakeholders. High work productivity of the

employees and less sick leave absences could be seen as a game-changer in future intelligent

buildings and sustainable office buildings [Feige et al., 2013]. If we contribute to reducing the

staff costs in the operational phase through energy efficiency measures and a better indoor

environmental quality (IEQ), then we can argue for higher investments on energy efficient and

innovative technologies as well as human wellbeing. It has been concluded that if only 10%

variation is made by our effort from staff costs, 9% cost saving can be realized in total during the

operation phase of buildings (see Fig. 3.2).

15

Figure 3.1. Linear design process vs circular SSO design process [Cobaleda Cordero et al.,

2018]

Figure 3.2. Typical business operating costs regarding energy, renting and staff. Source:

Health, Well-being & Productivity in Offices, World Green Building Council,

Sept. 2014 [WGBC, 2014]

There are more and more indications that a good IEQ in office buildings positively contributes to

the well-being of occupants, reduces sick leave days and finally, leads to an increased productivity

[MacNaughton et al., 2018]. These so-called co-benefits could be seen as a driver for more energy

efficient and healthier buildings in the future - saving costs for both businesses and the society.

When concerning the other way round, the consequences of occupant discomfort and ill-health

16

caused by bad IEQ finally can lead to low work performance and more sick leaves. IEQ in terms

of thermal climate, air quality, acoustic and lighting and daylights have a noticeable impact on

human comfort, health and productivity which have been selected as mandatory indicator listed in

sustainable building rating systems, e.g. WELL, GREEN STAR, BREEAM, LEED, DGNB,

Miljöbyggnad, GBI. IEQ needs to be designed and optimized to maximize human well-being and

productivity. But sometimes the building design may not create a better indoor comfort and one

of the reasons is that we lack of an interdisciplinary study and the cross-disciplines knowledge

frame from the physical climate, architectural design, organization environment, as well as social

and cultural background of the users.

Beyond IEQ, the other disciplines regarding ergonomic interior design, space function and

flexibility use, new user behaviour patterns and work demand need related aspects have been

considered [Schiavon & Altomonte, 2014; Kim & de Dear, 2013]. In different building typologies,

e.g. offices, apartments, schools, health care centres, elderly home, the specific living and working

environments needed from different groups of users should be customized and used for a

convenient and efficient living in intelligent buildings. Up to now, the interrelation and interaction

of different factors are far from clear, hense a holistic and evidence based design and optimization

in future intelligent buildings is exceedingly demanded.

To generate knowledge on buildings and users and their interactions, fundamental studies [de

Dear et al., 1998; Zhang et al. 2010] have been conducted on exploring the mechanisms of how

humans perceive the indoor environment, what are preferred indoor environment, and what are

the key indicators regarding both physiological and psychosocial aspects, for example, skin

temperature’s reaction to thermal comfort’s change and gender’s differentiation on the preference

[Jin et al., 2016]. Based on new knowledge explored in intelligent buildings embedded smart

sensors, meters and automation systems with the human physiological condition, behavioral data

and building performance monitoring and information communication technologies have been

being extensively applied. An outcome is to match human real demands, preferences and

changing behavioural patterns with responsive and adjustable indoor environments and low

energy use through intelligent control strategies, for instance, smart grid and demand response

control.

Nevertheless, health and wellbeing are more complex on the mental and perceptual levels than it

can be predicted only based on the results of measurable building performance parameters

[Bluyssen et al, 2011]. There are still many knowledge gaps concerning human real demands and

the designed indoor built environments such as a comprehensive understandings of how various

factors affecting health and wellbeing, what are the biases existing between human real demand

and building performance, etc. However, existing datasets are still limited to identify all related

factors and quantify the influencing relations to truly achieve sustainable indoor built

environment in different typologies of intelligent buildings. Obviously, there is a demand to

gather sophisticated information on occupants’ perception and behaviour as well as various

building performance related aspects such as energy efficiency levels, the role of smart materials,

and potentials of smart technologies. This demand is seen globally but a localisation is required to

adequately address socio-economic and cultural differences.

17

3.2 Research and Development

Global database development: Data collections on energy performance, IEQ and occupant health

and wellbeing from existing and new buildings need to be conducted further towards a cutting-

edge database set up concerning climate, social and economic conditions. The database

development will be a crucial bridge to conquer the gaps between human demand and building

performance. More concerns will lie on the data from occupant perceptual and real-time indoor

comfort and health, user behaviour and preference, measured energy performances, and from

building features on building typologies, user information, indoor environmental qualities, interior

components and landscape and low-carbon technologies.

Information communication technology (ICT) embedded data collection and internet of

things (IoT): A long-term and longitudinal data collection process is to be promoted to help to

visualize the mega field data as “right here, right now” with detailed insights to a dynamic indoor

climate and human demands. Embedded ICT equipment and system will allow an intelligent and

distance monitoring of various building technologies and equipment. IoT will implement much

smarter ways to connect personal equipment and device according to individual preferences of

comfort and cost and energy consumed concerns allowing communications between smart meters

and smart grid, such as the adjustable orderings of personal heaters, windows, self-ordering

fridges, washing machine at low energy tariff times, and surplus energy back to the grid.

Insights tools and analysis platform: Advanced and instant qualitative and quantitative insights

tools to collect occupant responses on comfort, health and wellbeing are to be developed

integrating different expertise of engineering, architecture, psychology, physiology, etc. A web-

based platform to visualize instant data collected will efficiently transfer building performance

and occupant real demand to building stakeholders and provide recommendations for building

service systems and human behaviours.

Sustainable technologies for advanced indoor environments: Intelligent buildings should be

better featured by human-oriented built environment design and environment-friendly indoor

climate technologies. When considering to improve human health and wellbeing, more sustainable

technologies regarding energy efficient building design, low impact construction and ergonomic

services should be identified and applied to provide advanced indoor climates achieving a higher

sustainability performance.

3.3 Future Horizons

– Health, wellbeing and low energy use based indoor environment design will be tailored for

different groups of end users regarding building typology, personal comfort profile and

office “DNA”. A holistic understanding of the factors existing in buildings and from the

user perspective will be generated in depth to promote a knowledge evolution on the

conceptual creation and strategic plan in future intelligent building development and

construction.

– Human real demand to be fulfilled by reliably smart technologies and resilient indoor

climates with “surplus energy” balance. Long-term monitoring of indoor environment as

well as human behavior and occupant feedback gathering systems will be commonly

embedded in the future buildings to fully access the real-time information and conduct

artificial intelligence analysis with the big data collection.

18

– Maximize the benefits through social, environmental and economic dimensions when

creating a living environment for humans. The added values of improved comfort, health

and productivity will be further quantified and emphasized compared to the mere energy

perspective in future buildings aiming for a better sustainability. New indicators and indices

will be developed to sophisticatedly evaluate the performance of the next generation of

intelligent buildings.

Chapter 3 aims to emphasise human health and wellbeing in indoor environments for future

intelligent buildings along with low environmental impact and high economic performance

over the whole building lifecycle. Quality of life makes contributions to the key performance

indicators of social well-being and economic efficiency, and the specific visions of human

health and well-being are one of the critical criterions in intelligent buildings’ classification.

Particularly in next-generation office buildings, user-oriented lower carbon footprint, and

resilient office design solutions are to be implemented for future.

This chapter discusses the key features of human health and wellbeing in buildings as well as

research gaps between the real perception from the user side and the measured building

performance. Fundamental research questions are put forward that need to be answered.

Research and development concerning knowledge, tools and technologies are initiated.

Ultimately, new horizons for the future built an indoor environment of intelligent buildings are

depicted.

The highlight of the conclusion is offering advanced indoor built environments for the future

building users, which takes advantage of reliable and supportive technologies, and is rooted in

evidence and resilient design thinking and human real demands. A circular design process

instead of conventional linear design should be utilised to holistically integrate multidiscipline

and diagnose the demand from users and stakeholders during the whole building lifecycle.

Future R&D activities are needed as global database development, ICT embedded data

collection, as well as sustainable technology implementation for advanced indoor

environments. In a nutshell, we anchor three horizons: health, wellbeing and low energy use

based indoor environment design, fulfil human real demand, as well as maximize benefits of

living indoor through social, environmental and economic dimensions

References

Bluyssen P. M., Janssen S., van den Brink L.H., de Kluizenaar Y. (2011). Assessment of wellbeing

in an indoor office environment, 46 (12): 2632-2640.

Cobaleda Cordero A., Rahe U., Wallbaum H., Jin Q., & Forooraghi M. (2018). Smart and

Sustainable Offices (SSO): Showcasing a holistic approach to realise the next generation

offices. Informes de la Construcción, 69 (548): e221.

de Dear, R.J., Brager, G.S. and Cooper, D. (1998). Developing an adapting model of thermal

comfort and preferences, ASHRAE RP-884 final report. Atlanta: American Society of

Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers.

Feige Annika, Wallbaum H., Janser M. & Windlinger Lukas. (2013). Impact of sustainable office

buildings on occupant’s comfort and productivity. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 15(1):

7-34.

Fisk, W.J. (2000). Health and productivity gains from better indoor environments and their

relationship with building energy efficiency, Annu. Rev. Energy Environ., 25, 537–566.

Jin Q. & Duanmu L. (2016). Experimental study of thermal sensation and physiological response

19

during step changes in non-uniform indoor environment. Science and Technology for the

Built Environment, 22(2), 237-247.

Kim, J. and de Dear, R.J. (2013). Workspace satisfaction: the privacy-communication tradeoff in

open-plan offices. J Environ Psychol, 2013, 36:18-26.

MacNaughton P., Cao X., Buonocore J., Cedeno-Laurent J., Spengler J., Bernstein A., and Allen

J. (2018). Energy savings, emission reductions, and health co-benefits of the green building

movement. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. (online published).

Schiavon, S. & Altomonte, S. (2014). Influence of factors unrelated to environmental quality on

occupant satisfaction in LEED and non-LEED certified buildings. Building and Environment,

77, pp. 148-159.

World Green Building Council. (2014). Health, Well-being & Productivity in Offices_ the next

chapter for green building. Retrieved from http://www.worldgbc.org/news-media/health-

wellbeing-and-productivity-offices-next-chapter-green-building.

Wargocki P., Wyon D.P., Sundell J., Clausen G., Fanger P. (2000). The effects of outdoor air

supply rate in an office on perceived air quality, sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms

and productivity. Indoor air, 10(4): 222-236.

Zhang H., Arens E., Huizenga C. & Han T. (2010). Thermal sensation and comfort models for non-

uniform and transient environments, part II: Local comfort of individual body parts. Building

and Environment, 5(2): 389-398.

20

4. Technology Aware Workplaces

Matthew Marson

4.1 Introduction

Often, with intelligent buildings, it is found that lots of technology is implemented for

the sake of technology – a demonstration of technical prowess. The vast majority of

the systems implemented are for energy management. For knowledge-based

industries, energy accounts for only 1% of the operation costs, yet real estate costs

account for 9% and employees’ salaries and benefits account for 90% (JLL, 2017).

Therefore, human-centric design is, in fact, a more appropriate way to design use

cases, select technologies and operate a building, helping businesses to achieve their

wider outcomes.

Globally, workplace design is being increasingly important and relevant to business

outcomes (Morgan, 2017). By being culture-centric, a business can demonstrate a key

differentiator in a market of homogenised remuneration packages.

Noteworthy workplaces often feature fully integrated suites of technology. Having

workplaces that are adapted in real-time, using technology, allows a business to reduce

the productivity leakage of their workforce. Productivity leakage is the sum of all the

pain-points that an employee experiences during the day that prevent them from doing

something productive. This could include a faulty coffee machine, waiting for an

elevator or voice-over IP technology that repeatedly fails. Sodexo believe that most

white-collar workers experience around two hours of productivity leakage a day. For

most businesses, this means that 25% of the working day is lost due to workplace

inefficiencies. This represents a significant cost to the business. This paper will outline

some examples across the below three value levers:

1. The Change Role of Technology in the Workplace

2. Wellness & Productivity

3. Social Collaboration & Space Optimisation

4.2 The changing roles of technology in the workplace

As robotic automation replaces the jobs of those doing repetitive tasks, the workforce

of the future will be performing tasks that leverage non-automatable skills such as

creativity, communication, innovation or collaboration. Often, workplaces are designed

for a single person to sit at a single desk. This kind of design restricts fluid ways of

working. The fundamental technology delivered in the workplace will become more

consumer grade and more flexible and mobile than ever. Those working across

geographies or from co-working or café spaces need enterprise technology that is as

malleable as the expectations of a person performing a role.

The workplace is becoming more of a destination. IBM, the company that championed

telecommuting for the vast majority of its history, is now recalling its staff to the office.

The company believes that their employees need face-to-face interactions in order to

develop their products and services, as well as be more engaged.

New methods of business such as a design thinking and agile development need

different types of spaces and technologies. Design thinking requires collaboration

21

rooms for sticky note activities. Agile development needs ceremony space with audio-

visual equipment that can demonstrate a software product. This means that the

technology provided in the workplace needs to be integrated into the fabric of the

building, in the fabric of the organisation and be well integrated to reduce support

over-heads and productivity leakage.

4.3 Wellness & Productivity

The optimisation of the physical environment goes hand-in-hand with the productivity

of the employees and their health and wellbeing (Stoddard, 2016). Delivering a

technology empowered wellness programme to the workplace can help a business

reduce its employee’s sick days by 28% (ERS Research & Consultancy, 2016).

For example, by having a set of sensors linked to an Internet of Things (IoT) platform,

it is possible to automate the control of internal air quality. In a meeting rooming, it is

possible to observe the levels of CO2 increase over time. When CO2 levels in a space

are too high, the ability to make decisions and to concentrate plummets (RESET air,

2016). By comparing the rate of CO2 production with the occupancy (gathered from a

mesh of quad-pyro passive infrared sensors) from a connected lighting system and the

design values of the space, machine learning can be applied to control the volume of

fresh air being delivered to that space. This way, the building can autonomously keep

the internal air quality as healthy and productive as possible.

The industry is also seeing the growth in demand for circadian lighting. Circadian

lighting has two main types. The first type ‘daylight harvests’. This means that it only

adds synthetic light in addition to what natural light is not providing. The driver for

colour temperature is still the sun. The second type of circadian lighting synthetically

controls the colour temperature to mimic the sun. Both have been shown to be far less

disruptive on a person’s circadian rhythms. Technology can also be implemented on

occupant’s laptops and phones that make the back light of the device follow the

circadian rhythm. This means that the employee is able to get to sleep naturally and is

therefore more productive the following day. This use case combined both energy

efficiency and health for the business imperative.

Productivity leakage can also occur through the lack of availability in concierge-type

services. The ability to ask simple questions with an emotional touch helps employees to

be more effective when dealing with organisational policy. Today, we are seeing

customer services organisations implement artificial intelligence chatbots to deal with

high customer demand. This significantly reduces the operational overhead whilst

delivering a sentiment-based response. Fjord believes that artificial intelligence will be

the user interface of choice in the future. By implementing this kind of technology in a

building, employees will be able to adjust room settings, find available spaces on the

fly, check the status of requests and much more. We will the growth in the concept of

building service user interface in line with consumer liquid expectations.

Beyond voice, video will also be used to measure the sentiment of employees. Linking a

series of cameras to a video analytics platform will analyse the facial expression and

postures of employees to understand their mood. This means that the building can

intelligently adapt the surroundings to increase comfort. Perhaps when it looks like

someone is having a bad, the building could reward them with an increase. These sorts of

22

ludic or delight events inspire employees and keep them engaged.

4.4 Social Collaborations & Space Optimisation

The management of space can often cause dissatisfaction in the workplace. The ability

for employees to query real-time utilisation data, means that they can make decisions

on where to go for some focused time, or a private call. They can also make an

intelligent decision on when it is good to go to the canteen. Being able to expose this

data in a user-friendly way is often a challenge for real-estate departments.

Knowledge workers rely on the knowledge of others. In large organisations, the ability

to connect and speak to others is often achieved through social knowledge as

corporate directories are often hard to navigate and do not relate to the physical world.

Implementing a set of location services in a building allows a culture of collaboration

to be achieved. Today, if you need to find someone with analytics skills for the project

that you’re working on requires you to email someone that may know someone. Before

you know it, you have been passed through tens of connections. By integrating the

location of employees (through WiFi triangulation or a Bluetooth beacon enabled

mobile app) to a skills database, means that colleagues can now connect faster with

those in the same building. This reduces productivity leakage and increases

interdisciplinary interaction. For businesses wishing to be more innovative, the

building can force social collisions by displaying interesting information about those

in the immediate vicinity to start a conversation.

This sort of technology often creates privacy concerns. By ensuring that the employee

has to opt-in into different levels of privacy, means they are more forthcoming with the

vision. By limiting the display of data to back-end, the front-end, then biometric

systems, employees are able to expose as much or as little data as they are comfortable

with. The ability to switch on and off on demand is an import control that makes the

populous feel more comfortable.

Location services can also be leveraged to reduce productivity leakage by giving the

ability for employees to rapidly find a thing (such as a high-value or well-used piece of

equipment). This allows an organisation to make better use of scarce resources and

maintain assets properly. It also allows individuals turn-by-turn navigation to parts of

the building that they are unfamiliar with. This helps visitors and temporary employees

get their bearing within a building.

23

4.5 Summary

The clear majority of the use cases above can only be achieved through comprehensive

integration of legacy and additional systems throughout the building.

Traditional building management systems are not sophisticated enough to deal with

the number of integrations, or computations. Having a connection to a cloud-based

IoT platform, means that buildings can have new applications installed to unlock

enhanced automation or other use cases.

As the line between the physical and the digital continues to blur, we will see the

increase in technology in the workplace.

References



ERS Research & Consultancy (2016) Health at Work: Economic Evidence Report 2016, Milton

Keynes.

JLL (2017) Workplace Powered by Human Experience, New York.

Morgan, J., (2017) The Employee Experience Advantage: How to win the war for talent by giving

employees the workspaces they want, the tools they need, and a culture they can celebrate,

Hoboken:Wiley.

Stoddart (2016) The Workplace Advantage – The 20 billion key: why the office environment is

key to productivity, Review report, London: Raconteur. https://www.raconteur.net/the-

workplace-advantage.

https://www.raconteur.net/the-workplace-advantage

https://www.raconteur.net/the-workplace-advantage

24

5. Daylight in Intelligent Sustainable Architecture

Juergen Koch

5.1 In general - Daylight and its Importance:

Daylight is the basis of all life and growth. It controls our organism and has a significant

influence on our health, performance and well-being. Daylight serves not only to see, but gives

us spatial orientation, orientation to the time of day and season because orientation is essential

for our well-being as well.

Being without orientation is a terrible condition that can be caused by illness or is generated

by external circumstances for that architects and engineers sometimes are responsible for.

The sun can be used for heating our buildings as well.

Winter gardens or roof glazed atriums are excellent examples as so called climate puffers.

Daylight is, however, also the most natural free resource.

Why we don’t use it more intelligent in architecture is incomprehensible and irresponsible.

5.2 "Daylight cannot be replaced by anything"

How do we use daylight in commercial architecture today?

What is the “status quo”?

Historic Daylight Architecture - Cologne Cathedral Seagram Building New York City

1958

Architects and inhabitants has always the dream of buildings having a clear and wide view

into the environment and nature and at the same time being protected from the elements. With

the development of even better and larger glazing’s, this dream came true after World War II

since the middle of the last century. The famous architect Mies van der Rohe was one of the

protagonists in "Bauhaus" architecture and masters of reduction to the essentials. The Seagram

Building (1958) in New York City is one of the most famous skyscrapers representing this

dream. But Gothic cathedrals show the fascination of daylight and large glazing’s as well

centuries ago.

More daylight in architecture was the reaction to the narrow, dark and unhealthy housing

conditions that with the first industrial revolution led to inhuman conditions in rapidly growing

industrial cities.

25

With large glass surfaces are not only benefits came up. Direct solar irradiation over large

glass surfaces also leads to glare of the occupants and to overheating the interiors. Internal

glare protection and air-conditioning systems have to heal the deficiencies of our buildings

with a huge energy input.

By the mid-seventies of the last century, oil was cheap and no one was looking for more

intelligent solutions. Glass industry and refrigeration industry became very good friends from

that times.

In many commercial buildings the cost of HVAC rose to 40% of the total construction costs.

Despite these problems, large-scale glazed buildings have not lost their fascination to this days.

„The dream is still awake.“ But we have to solve the problems so that the dream does not

become a nightmare.

It was first the oil crisis in 1972 and the publication of the Club of Rome report,

"The Limits of Growth," which led to a trend reversal.

Initially, architectural concepts were developed in housing construction, which attempted to

make climate-friendly residential buildings with passive natural resources. Winter gardens,

which captured the heat of the sun for heating purposes, became modern again. But in

commercial buildings, little has changed as far as the intelligent use of sunlight is concerned.

So far, we have come up with no better idea than shielding the glare and turning on the artificial

light when the sun is shining. With some luck, the caretaker turns off the lights at night. In

many commercial buildings artificial light burns all night until morning. This is absolute

nonsense and is the opposite of intelligent buildings.

So the answer to the question how we use daylight in commercial architecture is:

We use it just a little and that in a stupid way. This is totally crazy and quite primitive compared

to the automotive industry for example or the digitalised world in other areas. The internal sun

protection/blinds can only be used as glare protection. The solar heat still reaches the rooms

and causes cooling. That means, sunlight causes energy need. It should be exactly the other

way around.

It is time to use sun and daylight more intelligent for our buildings and cities7public areas.

Daylight Architecture is one of the most intelligent ways to use free renewable energy and

increase comfort, health and well-being in our buildings and by the same time reducing carbon

emission.

26

“Spherion” Deloitte’s German Green Corporate Daylight Architecture - Best Office & Office

of the Year 2014-Green Building

5.3 What can be done better to use the sun and daylight more intelligent?

Using daylight and the sun more intelligently not only means better light quality, health, comfort

and well-being for the user, but also a reduction in heating and cooling requirements and the

associated waste of energy and at the same time reducing CO2 emissions.

We have to control the daylight in a better way so that less heat enters the interior. Integrated blinds

in between of triple glazing can, for example, be a good solution. However, since daylight is not

constant, but constantly changing, intelligent buildings must react to it automatically. By the same

time the blinds are closed a part of the daylight reaching the window should be used intelligent.

This means that modern facades and conservatories should respond to weather conditions, sun

exposure and intensity and changes in the use of the building.

The components are:

1. Daylight redirection elements.

2. Efficient electrical sun- and glare protection system.

3. Control system which regulates the sun protection system automatically.

4. Sensor-controlled LED lighting, which reacts automatically on the daylight offer.

5. One or two weather stations on the roof of the building.

6. A clever person who writes the program for the control system.

To control the blinds a program has to be written that is adapted to the building, its use and

its natural and social environment.

27

This system is not really complicated, but it is complex. It reduces the power requirement for

lighting up to 25%. At the same time it ensures that less cooling and heating is required. This

means, of course, that the control system must be connected to the overall building control

system as well. The areas that are supplied with natural healthy daylight can be doubled. In

this case, improving comfort, well-being and health of employees means that the productivity

of employees in these buildings is much better.

Daylight redirection combined with sensor-controlled lighting

lux - lower line without redirection, traditional shading with innovative daylight

above line is with redirection

daylight redirection with closed blinds daylight redirection with open blinds

28

5.4 Conclusion:

Why we do not more of these? Are there industrial interests blocking new technologies?

To design und realise more intelligent green and sustainable buildings does not mean to put

on something on traditional construction methods and systems to make them more

expensive, it is about to change something in the process of planning and to integrate and

cultivate new technologies in our architectural design language. It is called IED, Integrated

Energy Design. That means for example, the quality and functions of façades are becoming

of more importance and connected holistic systems are required instead of the traditional

addition of separate systems. But it also means, that the money for construction is moving

from the old technical centres into the outer skin of sustainable intelligent buildings.

In commercial buildings of course are other and additional ways of using daylight than in

facades are recommended, like roof lights. But that means for example for supermarkets, to

control the incoming light as well but in a generally similar way as in facades.

It is all about connecting and combining different systems to control the daylight in our

buildings and our buildings must be able to react on changing weather- and use conditions.

The panning instruments have to consider different dynamic processes over the year, so we

use dynamic simulation programs optimising the relationship between buildings and the

changing environment conditions, like in a living organism.

The dimensioning of technical aggregates, based on worst case conditions, is of the past.

It is about optimisation and using synergies to get more intelligent buildings.

Worldwide 1st new generation of daylight and carbon neutral Supermarket in Berlin

But one thing always has to be considered first, people. People should always be in the focus of

everything that architects and engineers do. It's not about what's technically possible. We need to

be careful not to get over-engineered buildings, we need robust and resilient solutions because

human habits in building use are different and are not a constant factor in all engineering

calculations, as the computational models often suggest.

Buildings and their technical systems need to be intelligent, but also easy to handle.

Daylight Architecture is one of the most intelligent ways to use free renewable energy and

increase comfort, health, well-being in our buildings and reduces carbon emissions,

hopefully soon.

29

We have to use daylight in commercial buildings more intelligent by controlling the daylight so

that less heat enters the interior. Daylight redirection combined with integrated blinds in between

of triple glazing, for example, is a good solution. However, since daylight is not constant, but

constantly changing, intelligent buildings should react to it automatically, like in a living

organism.

That does not mean to put on something on traditional constructions to make them more

expensive. It`s about to change the planning process, to integrate new technologies into our

architectural design and using synergies. It’s called IED, Integrated Energy Design.

The quality, complexity and functions of facades are becoming more important and

connected holistic systems are required to control the daylight, artificial light, heating,

cooling and ventilation. Dynamic simulation programs can help to optimise the relationship

between buildings and the environment.

But one thing has to be considered first, people should always be in focus of everything that

architects and engineers do. It's not about what's technically possible.

Around the country we need better legal regulations regarding minimum distances between

buildings related to their height, so that architects and engineers get the chance to use the sun

more intelligent for well-being.

We also have to be careful not to get over-engineered buildings, we need robust and resilient

solutions because human habits are not a constant factor in engineering calculations, as

computational models often suggest. Buildings need to be intelligent, but also easy to handle.

Controlled daylight use in buildings is one of the most intelligent ways to use free renewable

energy and increase comfort, health, well-being in our buildings and reduces carbon

emissions, hopefully soon.

30

6. Intelligent Infrastructure

Mark Worall

6.1 Conceptual framework:

Buildings are one of the priority areas for tackling urbanisation issues through smart city initiatives

(Airaksinen, et al, 2016). Intelligent buildings will play major roles in tackling energy, resource

and environmental issues and the intelligent buildings roadmap will set out many of the challenges

facing the sector, but also opportunities for advancement. However, intelligent buildings developed

in isolation will not be able to fully address the challenges and will therefore not in of themselves

provide optimal solutions.

Figure 6.1. Buildings, the city and its infrastructure

Buildings are a part of a complex ecosystem that displays many of the features of living organisms

(Nilon, et al, 2003) – flows of energy and matter, flows of information, interaction with the

environment, rhythm, growth and decline and evolution. Historically, buildings and the

infrastructure connecting it to other buildings and services have had no interaction apart from such

one way processes such as metering and billing.

If buildings are seen not as individual entities, but as dynamic components in that ecosystem, then

“intelligent infrastructure” should be considered as the distribution system connecting individual

intelligent buildings in a multi-faceted, interactive network.

Infrastructure connects buildings to the wider community through networks that have functions as

diverse as the supply of services such as electricity, fuel, water and communications, the removal

and treatment of waste such as sewage and refuse, and the movement of commuters through road

and rail networks.

Buildings have a wide variety of uses, ranging from residential dwellings, office and commercial

buildings, retail, catering and leisure centres, public buildings such as schools and hospitals,

factories, warehouses and distribution centres and data centres and server buildings. The wide

31

range of services networking with buildings and the diverse range of building type and usage

pattern means that intelligent infrastructure can allow individual buildings to operate whilst the

infrastructure enables the system as a whole to be optimised.

Figure 6.2. Diagram indicating the interrelationship between social, environmental and smart

elements that defines intelligent buildings and infrastructure.

Intelligent buildings and infrastructure enables buildings to be productive and cost-effective

environment based on three basic intersecting elements;

social

smart

environmental

Social

We spend over 80% of our time in buildings (Klepeis et al, 2001) and the needs and desires of

people manifests itself in demand for services and consumption of resources. Developing

intelligent buildings and infrastructure that respond the people’s needs will contribute to well-being

whilst addressing the capacity of the environment to meet these needs in more sustainable ways.

Smart

Infrastructure is becoming connected through advances in information and communication

technologies (ICT). Internet connected sensors and devices are becoming more and more available

and it is projected that there will be over 26 billion connected devices by 2020 (Evans, 2011).

Recent advances in areas such as complexity modelling, data mining, deep learning, AI, and the

internet of things (IoT) could enhance the drive to more efficient use of resources and the

optimisation of buildings and the infrastructure serving the needs of people. These developments

present many challenges, but also opportunities for advancement (El-hawary, 2014).

Environmental

Buildings use up to 40% of the world’s energy resources, around a third of carbon dioxide

emissions and 10% of water withdrawals, so the provision of electrical power, heat, water and

waste are important for developing sustainable building services. Until recently there has been a

one way relationship; energy and water was delivered and waste was removed; but the advent of

smart grids and intelligent networks is meaning that the management of resources is becoming

more dynamic and responsive. Two of the main services vital to buildings and the people using

them are energy and water. Energy and water are inextricably linked. Water is necessary for power

32

generation and energy production and energy is needed for water extraction, processing and

delivery and this interconnectedness is sometimes referred to as the water-energy nexus. Intelligent

infrastructure will integrate the production and distribution of energy and the provision of water

and waste services.


Social infrastructure

Challenges

Health: As urban population density and GDP increases, energy consumption, water demand

and transport use will increase. The health, safety and well-being of people, especially

vulnerable sections of society such as children, the elderly and people with underlying health

conditions will be harmed due to increases in pollution, emissions and inadequate sanitation.

The infrastructure connecting buildings to its services will need to balance the demand for

services with the needs of people for good health.

Wellbeing: The WHO states: ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-

being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. The term ‘well-being’ reflects

one’s feelings about oneself in relation to the world. Many issues contribute to health and

wellbeing either positively or negatively, and intelligent infrastructure can contribute to good

outcomes and mitigate poor outcomes.

Employment: Intelligent buildings as workplaces, provide environments in which people

perform tasks in a productive and cost effective manner, but in which their well-being is not

just an afterthought, but is part of the process. However, the development of automation,

robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) could see the loss of jobs over a wide range of

occupations. Frey and Osborne (2017) predict that up to a half of total US employment is at

high risk of being replaced by computerisation and automation.

Job losses: Buildings designed to support sectors vulnerable to computerisation (low skilled,

low wage sectors) would be surplus to requirements and would need to be modified in order

to cater for newer job categories, converted to other uses, left unoccupied or be demolished.

This would present challenges to;

o The owners of buildings, due to the loss of revenues over a building’s lifetime, costs

of conversion to new use, or costs of demolition and rebuild.

o The users of building in emerging job categories, should buildings not be fit for

purpose, which could lead to frustration, reduced job satisfaction and lower

productivity.

o Architects and urban designers, due to the need to refurbish existing buildings or

creating new buildings suitable for emerging job categories.

o The urban landscape, as cities are transformed (in either planned or unplanned ways)

due to the modification of existing buildings, the creation of new buildings or the

abandonment/demolition of obsolete buildings.

Fragmentation: If alternative employment or new job categories do not emerge to replace

the ones lost to computerisation or adequate re-training (social infrastructure) is not made

available, then society could fragment into sections that have the skills and capital to exploit

the new technologies and those that do not.

Urbanisation: Well-being is a complex concept that includes job satisfaction, a good work-

life balance, stimulation of the mind, interaction with nature, health, wealth and happiness.

As urbanisation increases due to economic and population growth and the stresses of living

and working in cities rises, individual and societal well-being is in danger of being

undermined.

33

Green spaces: as infrastructure develops to meet the needs of cities, natural spaces, such as

parks, gardens and playing fields are in danger of being lost to buildings, roads and

pavements. A positive relationship between green outdoor spaces and levels of stress in the

workplace has been found (Lottrup et al 2013). The well-being of the occupants of buildings

will suffer with a decline in natural spaces. This will result in reduced performance at work,

increased signs of ill-health, such as absence from work, an increase in sickness levels,

reduced retention rates for good staff and a higher turnover. This will have an adverse

economic effect to employers, who will have to compensate for reduced productivity and

output.

Opportunities

Adaptability: Intelligent buildings should be designed to be adaptable and reconfigurable, so

that they can meet the challenges of changing work patterns, but intelligent infrastructure

presents important opportunities for bridging the gap. For instance, heat networks can

provide thermal energy to buildings, but if the energy usage changes with work patterns, then

adjustments can be made at the infrastructure level, saving investment costs in individual

building HVAC plant.

Better jobs: Many of the repetitive, tedious, physical and mentally stressful jobs currently

carried out by people will be computerised, enabling many to pursue more interesting careers,

thus enhancing personal well-being.

New jobs: New employment opportunities will be created by computerisation, which may

more than offset the jobs lost.

Economic growth: cities are engines of economic growth (80% of global GDP) due to the

concentration of diverse pools of labour and the ability of people and businesses to share

information and knowledge (UN DESA, 2015).

Economies of scale: investment in physical (roads, pipelines, cables) and social infrastructure

(education and health) is more effective in cities than in rural areas due to economies of scale

(UN DESA, 2015).

Green spaces: as infrastructure develops to meet the needs of cities, natural spaces, such as

parks, gardens and playing fields are in danger of being lost to buildings, roads and

pavements. A positive relationship between green outdoor spaces and levels of stress in the

workplace has been found (Lottrup et al 2013). The well-being of the occupants of buildings

will suffer with a decline in natural spaces. This will result in reduced performance at work,

increased signs of ill-health, such as absence from work, an increase in sickness levels,

reduced retention rates for good staff and a higher turnover. This will have an adverse

economic effect to employers, who will have to compensate for reduced productivity and

output.

Health: As urban population density and GDP increases, energy consumption, water demand

and transport use will increase. The health, safety and well-being of people, especially

vulnerable sections of society such as children, the elderly and people with underlying health

conditions will be harmed due to increases in pollution, emissions and inadequate sanitation.

The infrastructure connecting buildings to its services will need to balance the demand for

services with the needs of people for good health.

Commuting: Computerisation may reduce the need for commuting as more people may be

able to and be happy to work from home or in non-office environments.

34

Smart infrastructure

Challenges

Security concerns: vast quantities of data are shared between buildings and networks, so

systems are vulnerable to cyber-attack. Encryption and other security measures ensure that

most transactions are safe and secure, but weak points can be exploited that allow access to

sensitive data and leaving individuals or organisations vulnerable to attack. Financial

resources, intellectual property and organisational security can be compromised.

High initial costs: infrastructure requires physical (or virtual) connections between buildings,

networks and suppliers, so costs of installation in laying cables, pipework and ducting may

be substantial.

Fear of obsolescence: information technology and smart devices are developed rapidly, but

often superseded or upgraded in relatively short periods of time. Therefore, there are fears

that investment in “intelligent infrastructure” or other “smart” technologies may be a waste

of money as the technologies become obsolete.

Disconnect between user and the technology: pervasive computing, in which user friendly

interfaces, such as voice recognition software and virtual assistants, are removing the barriers

between users and services to produce a seamless, intuitive environment. As users become

less familiar with the way that the underlying technology is operating, they will be less aware

of potential problems. Users will then be relying on regulating authorities or experts to hold

the technology operators to account.

Interoperability: vast volumes of data are processed from a wide variety of sources, with

different software and communication protocols. If sources and networks cannot

communicate, then AI will be less effective. Many organisations at the forefront of AI

development use proprietary systems that are not interoperable with other systems.

Privacy: as data are constantly being generated and analysed from intelligent buildings,

intelligent infrastructure and the people that use them, there are many concerns that personal

and organisational information that is currently protected by privacy laws will be available

to third parties, whether they be employers, governments, political organisations, advertisers

or criminals. If individuals or organisations do not have confidence that the data generated

will be used responsibly, then there will be resistance to the take up of smart devices, which

in turn will reduce the effectiveness of the system.

Personalised services: AI and data analytics now have the ability to create personal profiles

from the data generated, which can help companies to target advertising to specific groups

and provide information on political and social interests to lobbyists and polling

organisations. Many of the services provided are useful and benign, but many could infringe

on people’s right to privacy. Balancing the right of data analytics organisations to masses of

data and the right of an individual or an organisation to privacy is a vitally important

challenge.

Disruption: Internet enabled sensors and devices are becoming part of the ICT ecosystem.

These devices are increasingly being used to facilitate distributed denial of service (DDoS)

attacks, in which malicious actors flood a target with service requests to overload the system

in order to disrupt or to extort. Many of the devices in the near future will be wireless micro-

devices embedded in infrastructure, with minimal security protection, so as the networks

expand they will be more vulnerable to attack.

35

Opportunities

Efficiency: intelligent distribution and use of resources through ICT, AI and complexity

modelling will enhance the efficiency of systems, make better use of existing infrastructure

and reduce the need for additional infrastructure.

Flexibility: data mining and deep learning at an infrastructure level enable AI to predict

supplies and demands and respond quickly to any variations. This is especially important as

more renewable energy supplies become part of the supply mix or buildings become energy

producers as well as consumers.

Transparency: intelligent infrastructure, such as smart grids, involves two way flows of

communication between buildings and the network. Users can monitor resource use and

modify behaviour to reduce consumption or save money and suppliers can monitor usage and

modify tariffs or incentives to better manage resource use.

High quality: networks take the strain of peaks and troughs in demand of both consumer and

supplier.

Resilience: intelligent infrastructure can take the strain during extreme events.

Environmentally friendly: intelligent energy infrastructure (electrical energy and heat) allows

us to manage a wide variety of primary energy sources. If we want to reduce carbon emissions

and increase the utilisation of renewable energy, then the infrastructure will enable us to meet

these objectives.

Environmental infrastructure

Energy

Challenges

Building energy consumption: as the number of buildings increases with population and

economic growth, electrical energy demand will grow, which will cause high power system

loading on existing infrastructure and result in overstressed equipment.

Thermal demand: approximately 50% of a building’s energy use (Ürge-Vorsatz, et al, 2015)

is from thermal demand, such as for space heating, cooling and hot water provision. The

majority is provided by fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil. In developing countries

of South East Asia, cooling demand at present is up to 70% of total thermal demand and

consumption will increase significantly as cities expand. As people become wealthier, they

will demand modern facilities such as air conditioning.

New consumers: demand will increase not just due to the increase in the urban population,

but because of technological advances in such areas as transportation (electric vehicles and

urban public transport), data handling (telecommunication hubs, data centres and server

buildings), and robotics (automation of tasks currently carried out by people).

Urban heat island effect: the growth of cities and an increasing population density will cause

ambient temperatures in cities to increase in comparison to the surrounding areas (the heat

island effect). Even without factoring in increasing temperatures due to global warming, there

will be increasing instances of heat waves, which can cause heat exhaustion and heat stroke,

leading to an increase in illness and mortality in vulnerable sections of society. Building

energy consumption will increase to counteract the heat island effect due to the demand for

building air conditioning, which will result in overloading of the electrical network. Current

practice is to bring on low efficiency, highly polluting stand-by plants and ration supplies

(rolling power cuts, charges to discourage use, incentives to encourage use at off-peak times)

at peak times or during heat waves.

Renewables: Figure 4 shows the share of global demand met by renewables at present and

by 2040 in the new policies and the 450 scenarios (IEA, 2016a). As renewable energy

increases in capacity and share of global demand, the infrastructure will need to be able to

manage the intermittent and fluctuating output.

36

Figure 6.4. Share of global demand met by renewables in selected sectors in new policies and

450 scenarios (IEA, 2016a).

Micro-generation (<50kW): buildings will increasingly be electrical generators as well as

users, though expansion of micro-generation systems such as solar photovoltaics, wind

turbines, combined heat and power (CHP) and micro-CHP systems. The network will need

to be able to manage the variable nature of supply and demand between individual buildings

and the infrastructure.

Opportunities

Building consumption: innovations in intelligent building technologies are reducing

electrical energy consumption in traditional areas such as lighting and high performance

glazing and facades, but most buildings consume more energy than predicted, therefore

there are opportunities to reduce energy consumption further by improved prediction and

control. Complexity modelling and deep learning are emerging technologies that involve

data mining, analysis, forecasting and prediction using AI algorithms. The data mining will

not be limited to the analysis of individual buildings, but will encompass the gathering of a

wide variety of information from different parts of the infrastructure connecting the

building, its occupants and its surroundings.

Thermal demand: In 2008 heat losses of the EU27 energy system before end use were

39.3EJ, around 19EJ were from electricity generating power stations and so were not

recoverable, but the remainder (29EJ) was considerably more than the demand of around

11 EJ (Andrews, et al, 2012). In large urban conurbations and cities, district heating and

cooling (DHC) could play a major role in increasing energy efficiency, by using waste heat

from electrical power generation plants and waste incinerators for thermal demand, utilising

low grade heat sources that would otherwise be wasted (industrial processes), utilising

renewable and low carbon heat (solar thermal, biomass, geothermal), reducing the need for

electrically powered cold thermal demand (compression chillers) by using heat driven

absorption chillers, heat pumps and free cooling (rivers, sea water, aquifers). DHC

infrastructure usually includes means of thermal storage, and so peaks and troughs of

demand from buildings can be managed within the DHC network. AI can be used in DHC

networks to optimise the performance of individual buildings and the overall network.

37

New consumers: Electric vehicles such as cars and buses will require additional electricity

capacity, but could be used as short term electricity storage systems in buildings. Intelligent

infrastructure requires more storage capacity to manage supply and demand and so electric

vehicles could help to manage the system. Data centres are emerging as major electrical

energy consumers and carbon dioxide emitters due to the need for cooling. Developments

in low temperature DHC will enable the low grade heat generated from data centres to be

used, whilst at the same time reducing electrical energy demand.

Urban heat island: Intelligent buildings could play a role in tackling the problems, such as

developing green roofs, facades and building envelopes that selectively absorb/reflect solar

radiation to reduce the effect, but buildings themselves could not solve the problem. It will

require the infrastructure of the city or district to be modified, so that there is a balance

between highly absorptive structures such as buildings, roads and pavements and green

spaces, heat refuges and shelters.

Renewables: renewable energy systems requires intelligent infrastructure that can accept

the intermittent and variable nature of the output and a robust and resilient network to

manage the flows. As renewable energy generation grows from a small contribution to

dominating the energy supplies, intelligent infrastructure will need to develop innovative

energy storage systems. Energy storage could take the form of electrical (batteries) thermal

(hot water or ice), mechanical (flywheels/compressed air), chemical (salt hydrates) or

electro-chemical (batteries/ fuel cells).

Micro-generation: Buildings with integrated renewable energy systems will increasingly

be developed in the coming years, and there are many advantages to generating renewable

electricity and heat at a building level. Solar and wind act on buildings whether we utilise

the energy or not, so it makes sense to extract some of the energy if it is practically and

economically feasible to do so. Buildings can reduce their utility bills, or can gain a revenue

stream by selling any excess. Management of the fluctuating and variable supplies will be

challenging to the electrical network, and so energy storage will need to be integrated into

the electricity infrastructure.

Water

Challenges

Demand: A large share of the water (up to 90%) withdrawn by households and services in

high per capita use areas (developed countries such as the North America and Europe) is

returned as wastewater, which requires treatment and energy consumption. The majority of

water withdrawn in the municipal sector is for non-personal use, such as flushing toilets,

washing dishes and clothes, watering lawns and washing cars (Cosgrove and Rijsberman,

2000).

Urbanisation: Urbanisation is projected to grow from one-third urban in 1950 to two-thirds

urban in 2050 (UN DESA, 2015). The water/energy infrastructure will need to be

maintained and expanded to meet the growth in demand for clean water and the provision

of sanitation.

Environment: All uses of water cause some level of pollution, which needs to be treated

before it can be reused. Less than 100% of pollutants are removed because of prohibitive

costs, so some remain in the water or accumulate in the soil. In developing countries, the

provision of sanitation is not keeping up with population growth, resulting in increases in

pollution of water and the aquatic environment.

Health: If water services do not keep up with demand in rapidly expanding urban areas,

then this will lead to an increase in water-related diseases and deaths (3.4 million deaths

due to waterborne diseases in 1998 (WHO, 1999)).

38

Unplanned development: Rapid and unplanned urbanisation in developing countries has led

to the expansion of slums or informal settlements (one third of all urban residents in

developing countries live in informal settlements (UN DESA, 2015), and will continue to

pose health risks and impede the life chances of people due to the lack of access to clean

water and sanitation.

Conflict: Transboundary river basins account for around 60% of all freshwater flow and

supplies around 40% of the world’s population (IEA, 2016b). Management and use from

one location can affect downstream locations, thus creating potential tensions between

states.

Opportunities

Energy efficiency: Increases in the efficiency of energy production and power generation

systems will reduce withdrawals and demand for water. This in turn will reduce the need

for water treatment. CHP and waste heat recovery systems linked though DHC networks

can also improve the efficiency of the power and heat supply infrastructure.

Waste-water recovery: Energy recovery from wastewater could provide opportunities to

improve the efficiency of the water treatment process.

Embodied energy: There are opportunities to exploit the embodied energy in waste-water

by generating electricity from biogas.

6.3 Future scenarios

Energy

Global economic growth is set to more than double over the next 20 years and energy demand and

CO2 emissions are set to increase alongside. Figure 3 (IEA, 2016a) shows the trends in three

scenarios, current policies, new policies (taking account of broad policy commitments and plans

that have been announced by countries) and 450 scenario policies (an energy pathway consistent

with the goal of limiting the global increase in temperature to 2°C by limiting concentration of

greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to around 450 parts per million of CO2). In new policies

scenarios, energy demand CO2 emissions are still set to increase and in the 450 scenario, energy

demand is projected to flatten out and CO2 emissions are set to decrease.

Figure 6.3. Global GDP, energy demand and CO2 emissions trajectories by scenario (IEA,

2016a).

Buildings are responsible for over 40% of energy consumption and 33% of carbon dioxide

emissions (IEA, 2016a). As over half of the population of the planet now live in cities (UN DESA,

2015), and cities become more densely populated, meeting the demand of a growing and wealthier

39

population requires drastic action to mitigate and reduce the effect on the environment and

resources and to better utilise renewable and low carbon resources.

Water

Water is an abundant resource, but only about 2.5% of it is freshwater. Of that, less than 1% is

available for human use, as almost 70% is held in glaciers and ice, and roughly 30 % is deep

underground or unsuitable for human consumption. Most of the supply is from surface water and

groundwater sources, with global freshwater withdrawals increasing by around 1% per year since

the 1980s. The withdrawal rate is outpacing the recharge rates by 1-2% per year globally, therefore

groundwater sources are diminishing and becoming more vulnerable to seawater intrusion.

Agriculture is the main cause of withdrawals and water consumption. The municipal sector

accounts for 13% of withdrawals and 5% of consumption, the energy sector (power generation and

primary energy production) accounts for 10% of withdrawals and 3% of consumption, whilst the

industrial sector accounts for 12% of withdrawals and 8% of consumption. It is projected that

withdrawals to meet municipal demand will increase 17% by 2040, withdrawals to meet industrial

demand are projected to remain approximately the same (8-9%), and withdrawals in the energy

sector are expected to rise by around 2% by 2040, but consumption is expected to rise by almost

60% (IEA, 2016b).


The development strategy for both intelligent buildings and the intelligent infrastructure that

serves them should aim to integrate the social, the smart and the environmental aspects

holistically. Concentrating on one aspect at the neglect of others may deliver some positive

outcomes, but will not provide modern, efficient, cost effective, profitable, sustainable and

pleasant environments in which people live and work.

Specific topics for consideration.

Well-being

Most buildings are designed to be occupied by human beings, but well-being is often low on the

priority list, if considered at all. Well-being can be enhanced though the design of a space, and the

consideration of human physiology and physiology, but if occupations are stressful or unfulfilling

then well-being can be seriously undermined. There will always be occupations that can undermine

well-being, and stressful or unfulfilling jobs will always be with us, but intelligent social

infrastructure can create urban spaces that mitigate some of the negative effects and make work

more productive.

Hard and soft infrastructure

A balance must be found between hard and soft infrastructure. We define hard infrastructure as

that which consists of concrete, glass and steel buildings, roads, pavements, plazas, and soft

infrastructure as that which consists of parks, gardens, wildlife corridors, green roofs, water

features.

A concentration on hard infrastructure contributes to overheating of cities in summer, which leads

to higher energy consumption, an increase in pollution and carbon emissions, and impacts on

human health and mortality. From an environmental point of view, soft infrastructure provides

shelters from heat and cool spots, it can reduce the overall heat island effect, it also absorbs carbon

dioxide and releases oxygen and water vapour into the atmosphere. It is now widely recognised

that people respond positively to a connection with nature, whether that is for leisure or work, so

that health and well-being can be enhanced (assuming that work-life balance and satisfaction can

be achieved), improving motivation and productivity, whilst reducing costs.

A balance between hard and soft infrastructure can be developed using many emerging techniques

40

such as constructal theory, fractal geometry, evolutionary algorithms, data mining and machine

learning.

Distributed energy

Cities and megacities consume vast quantities of energy due to their high urban density, but this

concentration of buildings and people presents opportunities for distributed energy systems due to

economies of scale.

District heating and cooling networks (DHC)

Cities are increasingly turning to DHC to provide heating and cooling that is potentially more

energy efficient, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions and enables more flexibility at a building

level. DHC have traditionally been driven by combined heat and power (CHP) systems that are

fuelled by fossil fuels, but renewable heat can be integrated as well as providing a variety of fairly

simple energy storage methods (including hot water, steam, molten salt, phase change materials

(PCMs)). Cooling to data centres and server farms, cloud computing factories is increasingly being

sited in northern regions to take advantage of natural cooling from lakes and rivers.

DHC generate data which can be used to optimise delivery of heat as well as minimising energy

consumption and maximising the use of renewable heat.

Renewable energy

It is important that renewable and low carbon energy systems are integrated into a city’s buildings

and infrastructure. Just placing solar panels or wind turbines on roofs may not help in providing

energy to cities, so it is important that the siting and orientation of such systems are optimised. It

may be impracticable to install a system on one particular building, because of layout, orientation

or location, but be practicable on another building. A distributed network at an infrastructure level

would maximise the production of renewable energy, whilst making the overall system more cost

effective.

Water-energy

We are surrounded by water, but very little of it is available for human use. We need to be much

more thoughtful about our use of water. Most of the water is for non-human consumption, but we

extract it from aquafers or reservoirs (which mainly come from run-off), treat it to a standard

suitable for human consumption and pump it to cities. Non-potable water can be recycled for use

close to the customer. Economies of scale mean that cites should re-use most of the water

consumed, reducing the need for fresh water and the energy required to process and deliver it.

Sustainable cities

Sustainable development is most commonly defined as that which “meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987).

Buildings and urban infrastructure are a major cause of unsustainable development, but one of the

easiest to fix, whether it is modifying existing buildings and infrastructure or developing buildings

and infrastructure that are closer to the definition of sustainable development. It is not “rocket

science”. It is not necessary to invent new materials, design new machines or develop new fuels to

design sustainable spaces, although innovations can feed into the solutions and make a difference.

It is a mainly a matter of creative design. Therefore, architects, engineers and urban designers play

the most crucial role in developing intelligent buildings and infrastructure, an example of intelligent

social infrastructure. If these important professions work together from concept to handover, then

they will be more successful in achieving their goals, and be more sustainable, should this be one

of their goals. If these professions work separately or development is linear

(concept/structure/services/control/facilities management) then success is less likely.

Smart cities

The emergence of smart technologies such as robotics, AI, data mining and manipulation, and

41

pervasive computing has great potential to improve the lives and prosperity of citizens but has

many downsides, as described in the state-of-the- art review. A development strategy for intelligent

buildings should embrace the emerging technologies, but mitigate the negative effects. Cities are

great engines of economic development, but as employment patterns and occupation categories

change, it is the responsibility of its governors to act in the interests of its citizens to ensure that

they benefit from the opportunities. Each city or urban space will have different ways of balancing

the benefits and costs of the development of smart technologies, but if only a small proportion of

its citizens benefit from the changes then social unrest will result. Cities are places of growth, but

also places of protest and revolution.

Megacities

There are over a twenty megacities with populations exceeding 10 million people, and most of

them are in developing regions of the world. This report focusses on how intelligent buildings and

its infrastructure can produce a better world for the people living and working in it, whether it is

employment, health and well-being, sustainable development, or technologies that connect people

and improve services. However out focus tends to fall on modern cities in the developed world that

have a civic infrastructure that tends to reduce the inequalities that arise when there are few checks

and balances. In developing regions, where civic society is less well established, informal

settlements are common and tolerated. It is important that advances in buildings and infrastructure

are applicable to developing countries and the outcomes can reduce the prevalence of slums, tackle

poverty and improve the life chances of people living on the margins of society.


The research community can contribute to the advancement of intelligent buildings and

infrastructure by gaining a better understanding of the interface between social, smart and

environmental infrastructure.

Research at the interface between social, smart and environmental infrastructure should aim to;

Gain a better understanding of the relationship between changing work patterns and

health, well-being and productivity with respect to buildings and infrastructure.

Develop techniques investigating the relationship between hard and soft infrastructure on

health, well-being and productivity.

Understand the life-cycle costs of intelligent buildings and infrastructure, using a range of

scenarios.

Develop strategies for optimizing hard and soft infrastructure.

Develop models and methods for integrating distributed energy infrastructure.

Develop techniques for optimizing distributed energy infrastructure using techniques

including data analytics, constructal theory, fractal and evolutionary algorithms.

Develop systems and infrastructure that integrates water and energy systems.

Develop working methods that encourage teamwork across disciplines.

Develop systems that integrate smart technologies (big data, AI, IoT, robotics) between

buildings and infrastructure.

Provide solutions that are practical and affordable, so that they can be applied to

developing regions.

6.6 Research Agenda

Researchers need to work across disciplines to develop new thinking, so that everyone benefits

from advances in intelligent buildings and infrastructure. We will need contributions from the

scientific community and from the humanities. If we are to create buildings that serve the people

42

working and living in them then physiological, physiological and social aspects will need to be

addressed as well as the scientific and technical.

The future direction of research in intelligent buildings and infrastructure should focus on:

Developing working methods that encourage team working between different disciplines from the

concept stage. It should be recognised that non-technical disciplines are important to the

development of intelligent buildings and infrastructure.

Ensuring that building owners and occupants benefit from development.

Ensuring that the wider community benefits from development.

Ensuring that advances in intelligent building and infrastructure is accessible and cost effective to

developing regions.

Where possible, water and energy services development should be integrated.

Sustainability must be a high priority, but this must be balanced with the need of building occupants

(health and well-being) and building owners (payback times, life cycle costs).

Smart technologies should be embraced, so that the benefits that they bring can be realised, but this

must not be at the expense of personal liberty or privacy. Transparency is vitally important, so that

data that is being accessed and manipulated is with the consent or knowledge of the individual or

organisation.

References

Airaksinen, M, Porkka, J, (Eds) (2016), research roadmap report smart city vision, CIB

Publication 407, Pub: CIB General Secretariat, The Netherlands, p. 60.

Andrews, D, Riekkola, A, K, Tzimas, E, Serpa, J, Carlsson, J, Pardo-Garcia, N, Papaioannou, I,

(2012), Background report on EU-27 district heating and cooling potentials, barriers, best

practice and measures of promotion, Joint Research Centre Report EU25289 EN,

European Commission, Luxembourg, p. 215.

Cosgrove, W, J, Rijsberman, F, R, (2000), World Water Vision, Ch 2: The use of water

today, Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, UK, pp.6-22.

El-Hawary, M, E, (2014), the smart grid: state-of-the-art and future trends, Electric Power

Components and Systems, V42, (3-4), pp. 239-250.

Evans, D, (2011), The Internet of Things: how the next evolution of the internet is changing

everything, White paper, CISCO Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), P.11.

Frey, C, B, Osborne, M, A, (2017), the future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to

computerization? Technical forecasting and social change, V114, (Jan), pp. 254-280.

IEA, (2016a), World Energy Outlook 2016, Part B, Ch 10: special focus on renewable energy,

International Energy Agency, Paris, France. pp. 395-443.

IEA, (2016b), World Energy Outlook 2016, Part A, Ch 9: water-energy nexus, International

Energy Agency, Paris, France. pp. 347-394.

Klepeis, N, E, Nelson, W, C, Robinson, J, P, Tsang, A, M, Switzer, A, M, Bhar, J, V, Hern, S, G,

Englemann, W, H, (2001), The national activity pattern survey (NHAPS): A resource for

assessing the exposure to environmental pollutants, J of Exposure Analysis and

Environmental Epidemiology, V11, (3), pp.231-252.

Lottrup, L, Grahn, P, Stigsdotter, U, K, (2013), workplace greenery and perceived level of stress:

benefits of access to a green outdoor environment at the workplace, Landscape and Urban

Planning, V110, (Feb), pp.5-11.

Nilon, C, H, Berkowitz, A, R, Hollweg, K, S, (2003) Ecosystem understanding is the key to

understanding cities: Introduction, Springer International Publishing AG, New York,

pp.1-13.

UN DESA, (2015), World population prospects, 2015 revision: key findings and advance tables,

43

working paper No. ESA/P/WP.241, Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Population Division, United Nations, New York, 2015. P66.

Ürge-Vorsatz, D, Cabeza, L, F, Serrano, S, Barreneche, C, Petrichenko, K, (2015), heating and

cooling energy trends and drivers in buildings, Renewable and Sustainable Energy

Reviews, V41, (Jan), pp.85-98.

WCED, (1987), our common future. World Commission on Environment and Development,

Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, p. 300.

WHO, (1999), the world health report 1999: making a difference, World Health Organisation,

Geneva, Switzerland, p. 136.

44

7. Sustainable urban transportation in intelligent cities

Xingxing Zhang

7.1 Air quality in underground built environment

Background and Description

Millions of people in metropolis benefit from the convenience of underground systems, which

reduce the traffic congestion above the ground. However, during the recent large-scale proceeding

of urbanization of developing countries, like China, the underground traffic has raised significant

issues ever to the large-and-medium sized cities. One of the severe problems is indoor air quality

(IAQ) in underground systems due to heavy use and overcrowding, unsustainable operation in

public transportation and etc.

Most underground systems are designed as confined space where air pollutants are generated and

diffused as well as enter from outside atmosphere. Hence, various types of air pollutants which

bring threats to human’s health are accumulated in underground systems. IAQ must be a matter of

great concern because regular passages passengers and underground working staff spend

considerable time in the underground system daily. Therefore, in order to ensure the passages

passengers and underground working staff health, relative researches and implements are necessary

for controlling the hazardous air pollutants in the underground system.

Recently, a few studies have been reported to monitor the IAQ and propose strategies to mitigate

this issue. Inhalable particulate matter (PM) concentrations are typically much higher than those

above ground according to some published studies, nonetheless, the substantial factors impacting

the production and shape of PM are heterogeneous that rarely illustrated solitarily yet. The

geographical areas, indicated in Fig. 7.1, discussed include Montreal (Boudia et al., 2006), New

York (Ruzmyn et al., 2015), Los Angeles (Kam et al., 2011), Paris (Bachoual et al., 2007; Tokarek

and Bernis et al., 2010), Mexico city (Hernandez-Castillo et al.,2014; Mugica et al., 2012; Gomez-

Perales et al., 2004), Shanghai (Li et al., 2012; Huan et al., 2014), Beijing (Jing et al., 2012),

Guangzhou (Chan et al., 2002), Xi’an (Gao et al., 2015), Suzhou (Cao et al., 2017), Tianjin (Wang

et al., 2016), Taipei (Kam et al., 2011), Seoul (Son et al., 2012; Kim et al., 2008), Fukuoka（

Chang-Jin et al., 2012), Tehran (Hosein et al., 2014), Puna (Delbari et al., 2016), Istanbul (Sahin

et al., 2012), Bracelona (Moreno et al., 2014), Stockholm (Klara et al., 2012), Helsinki (Aarnio et

al., 2005), Milan (Colombi et al., 2013), Rome (Perrino et al., 2015) London (Pakbin et al., 2010;

Adams et al., 2001) and Birmingham (Harrison et al., 1997). The majority of this research was

conducted via on-site testing of PM at different sites in the subway stations, i.e. the station hall,

carriages etc., with corresponding analysis on the distribution and physicochemical properties of

PM2.5 in each location in the subway station. For instance, Kam et (2012) measured the

concentration of the particles in six different cities for eight years in eastern of America. Then they

analyzed the correlation between death rates and the particles and they found that correlation

between mortality and the PM2.5 was strong. Delbari et al (2017) reported that the mortality would

increase 1.5% when the average concentration of the PM2.5 increases 10 μg/m3, Pope C et al (2002)

also got similar results. Moreover, some researchers have reported that the concentration of

particles in the subway were much more than the outside environment and they were much more

gene toxic which could cause more healthy problems to public (Kijnzli, Kaiser et al. 2000, Guo,

Hu et al. 2014). Now there are many studies, which measured the particles in public transportation

including the Metro, buses and so on (Adams, Nieuwenhuijsen et al. 2001, Cheng, Lin et al. 2008,

Cheng and Yan 2011, Kam, Cheung et al. 2011, Cheng, Liu et al. 2012). In these studies, the factors

45

influencing concentration and distribution of PM in subway stations include seasons, weather, time,

traffic density, brake system, ventilation system, passenger density, depth, design, aboveground or

underground, operating duration, location, piston effect, outdoor traffic (Park et al., 2008, Li et al.,

2012, Cheng et al., 2008, Hernandez-Castillo CR et al., 2014, Moreno et al., 2014, Midander et

al., 2012, Aarnio et al., 2005, Boudia et al., 2006). And the measured targets or components in

subway stations were outdoor climate conditions, platforms, passenger carriages, driver

compartments, station offices, rest areas, ticket offices, station precincts (Li et al., 2012, Hosein et

al., 2014, Park et al., 2008, Huan et al., 2014, Ruzmyn et al.,2015, Kim et al., 2008, Cheng et al.

2008, Moreno et al., 2014, Midander et al., 2012, Kim et al., 2014, Aarni et al., 2005).

Figure 7.1 Geographical locations of research into PM2.5 in subways

According above studies, it is likely that the PM analytical results would be different if the

studies were performed in another country or even in the same city, as the influencing factors and

the measured targets/components may vary. To make an accurate assessment, it is necessary to

carry out the local measurement and analysis. Besides the PM, coeval concentrations of COX,

SOX and NOX are also significant sectors that should be investigated on underground train station

platforms.

Sampling and observation are the primary method currently used for the physical and chemical

characterization of IAQ in subways. The main physicochemical properties are: (1) the shape of

pollutants in subways is complex and changeable; there are no stable or identical shapes identified;

(2) current research focuses mainly on the elementary composition of pollutants; these chemical

are not found as individual elements but as part of a compound. Current research demonstrates that

the factors influencing the concentration and distribution of pollutants in subways included

external, internal, human and operational factors. Pollutants sources in subways are usually divided

into two categories: from the external outdoor environment and from the subway interior i.e. the

perennial equipment, the ventilation systems and the train brake systems. The control strategy of

pollutants relies on the features of the subway. In contrast to buildings over-ground, subway

stations could be considered to be "semi open construction" and therefore obviously affected by

the outdoor environment. IAQ in subway stations is dependent on the ventilation system with the

control strategy provided by most of researchers being through prevention and control through

ventilation. Although subway cabin air purifier (SCAP) has been used in subway carriages to

46

reduce pollutants concentration, there is still a lack of definite methods for the control of platform

and station hall ventilation systems.

Objectives

This road map aims to bring forward the urgency and necessary of mitigating the IAQ problem

in underground built environment. It seeks to advance the understanding of indoor air pollutants

and pertinent measures which save energy consumption, enhanced the IAQ level, and minimize

the health risk in underground, by consolidating a large set of new peer-reviewed work that

highlights the implement in the IAQ improvement and sustainable operation in underground

system for future intelligent cities.

Future research potential topics may include, but are not limited to:

• IAQ in underground and suspended particulate matter

• IAQ in underground and source of air pollutants

• IAQ in underground and mortality risk reduction

• IAQ in underground and season dependent model

• IAQ in underground and thermal comfort

• IAQ in underground and energy saving

• IAQ in underground and ventilation system

• IAQ in underground and online monitoring

• IAQ in underground and numerical simulation

• IAQ in underground and sustainable operation

Focus of research and development

Systematic research method: sampling and observation is the primary method currently for the

physical and chemical characterization of air quality in underground built environments. Due to

the complexity of undergrounds, many people are sceptical about the accuracy of results and

validity of data. Further research into the theory and methodology must be completed to improve

data analysis.

Characterized measurement locations and long-term data collection: most of the existing

studies focus only on a certain area or a certain underground so that the research results may have

significant differences due to many varying factors. The characterized measurement locations in

undergrounds need to be defined and made uniform, such as carriages, work areas, public areas

(platform, station hall) and outdoor environment. Since the main analysis method used is

sampling and observation, large accumulations of data will be required, which must be achieved

through long-term measurements in underground built environments.

R&D in different locations and scenarios: The factors influencing the IAQ in undergrounds are

different from locations and scenarios. It is very likely that the IAQ would be different if the

studies are performed in another country or even in the same city. To make an accurate

assessment, it is necessary to carry out the local measurement and build local database for

analysis.

Control against energy saving: some researchers have argued from an energy-saving

perspective that air only needs to be controlled within the carriage since passengers spend most

time there. It has been suggested that underground air-conditioning and ventilation should be in

47

mind from the very beginning of design up to final operation so as to control air distribution in

undergrounds whilst consuming as little energy as possible.

Millions of people in metropolis benefit from the convenience of underground systems, which

reduce the traffic congestion above the ground. However, during the recent large-scale

proceeding of urbanization of developing countries, like China, the underground traffic has

raised significant issues ever to the large-and-medium sized cities. One of the severe problems

is indoor air quality (IAQ) in underground systems due to heavy use and overcrowding,

unsustainable operation in public transportation and etc. Most underground systems are designed

as confined space where air pollutants are generated and diffused as well as enter from outside

atmosphere. Hence, various types of air pollutants which bring threats to human’s health are

accumulated in underground systems. IAQ must be a matter of great concern because regular

passages passengers and underground working staff spend considerable time in the underground

system daily. Therefore, in order to ensure the passages passengers and underground working

staff health, relative researches and implements are necessary for controlling the hazardous air

pollutants in the underground system. This road map aims to bring forward the urgency and the

needs of mitigating the IAQ problem in underground built environment, especially at subway

stations. It seeks to advance the understanding of indoor air pollutants and pertinent measures

which save energy consumption, enhanced the IAQ level, and minimize the health risk in

underground, by consolidating a large set of new peer-reviewed work that highlights the

implement in the IAQ improvement and sustainable operation in underground system for future

intelligent cities.

References

Aarnio, P, Yli-Tuomi, T, Kousa, A, Makela, T, Hirsikko, A, Hameri, K, Paisanen, M, Hillamo, R,

Koskentalo, T, Jantunen, M. The concentrations and composition of and exposure to fine

particles (PM2.5) in the Helsinki subway system. Atmospheric Environment, 2005, (39):

5059-5066

Adams, HS, Nieuwenhuijsen, MJ, Colvile, RN, McMullen, MAS, Khandelwal, P. Fine particle

(PM2.5) personal exposure levels in transport microenvironments, London, UK. The

Science of the Total Environment, 2001, (279): 29-44

Bachoual, R, Boczkowski, J, Goven, D, Amara, N, Tabet, L, On, D, Leçonmalas, V, Aubier, M,

Lanone, S.

Biological effects of particles from the Paris subway system. Chem. Res. Toxicol, 2007,

20: 1426–1433.

Boudia N, et al. 2006. Manganese concentrations in the air of the Montreal (Canada) subway in

relation to surface automobile traffic density. Sci Total Environ;366(1):143-7.

Cao, SJ, Kong, XR, Li, L, Zhang, W, Ye, ZP, Deng, Y. An investigation of the PM2.5 and NO2

concentrations and their human health impacts in the metro subway system of Suzhou,

China. Environ Sci Process Impacts, 2017, 19, 666-675

Chan, LY, Lau, WL, Zou, SC, Cao, ZX, Lai, SC. Exposure level of carbon monoxide and

respirable suspended particulate in public transportation modes while commuting in urban

area of Guangzhou, China. Atmospheric Environment, 2002, 38(36): 5831-5840

Colombi, C, S, Angius, V, Gianelle, M, Lazzarini. Particulate matter concentrations, physical

characteristics and elemental composition in the Milan underground transport system.

Atmospheric Environment, 2013, (70): 166-178

48

Chan, LY, Lau, WL, Zou, SC, Cao, ZX, Lai, SC. Exposure level of carbon monoxice and

respirable suspended particulate in public transportation modes while commuting in urban

area of Guangzhou, China. Atmospheric Environment , 1992, (26): 2141-2148

Chang-Jin, Ma, Sigeo, Matuyama, Koichiro Sera, Shin-Do, Kim. Physicochemical properties of

indoor particulate matter collected on subway platforms in Japan. Asian Journal of

Atmospheric Environment, 2012, 6 (2): 73-82

Chueng, G, Zang, JB. Test and analysis of PM2.5 concentration in subway system. (in chinese).

Refrigeration technology, 2014, (5): 13-16

Cheng, YH, Liu, ZS, Yan, JW. Comparisons of PM10, PM2.5, particle number, and CO2 levels

inside metro trains traveling in underground tunnels and on elevated tracks. Aerosol Air

Qual Res, 2012, (12): 879-891

Cheng, YH, Yi, LL, Chia, ChL. Levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in Taipei Rapid Transit System.


Delbari1, AS, Hadavifar, M, Haghparast, H. Concentration and characterization of airborne

particles in two subway systems of Islamic Republic of Iran and India. Journal of Air

Pollution and Health, 2016, 1(2): 61-68

Gomez-Perales, JE, Covile, RN, Nieuwenhuijsen, MJ, Fernandez-Brem, Auntz, A, Gutierrez-

Avedoy, VJ, Paramo-Figueroa, VH.

Commuters' exposure to PM2.5, CO, and benzene in public transport in the metropolitan

area of Mexico City. Atmospheric Environment, 2004, (38): 1219-1229

Gao, ML, Cao, JJ, Edmund, Seto. A distributed network of low-cost continuous reading sensors

to measure spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 in Xi'an, China. Environmental Pollution,

2015, (199): 56-65

Harrison, RM, Deacon, AR, Jones, MR. Sources and processes affecting concentration of PM2.5

and PM10 particulate matter in Birmingham (U.K.). Atmospheric Environment, 1997,

24(31): 4103-411

Hernandez-Castillo CR, et al. Whole-brain connectivity analysis and classification of

spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 by functional MRI. Cerebellum Ataxias. 2014.

Hosein, KM, Mahdi, CYJ, Gholam, HS. Concentration and characterization of airborne particles

in Tehran’s subway system. Environment Science Pollution Research, 2014, (21): 7319-

7328

Ma, H, Shen, HG, Liang, Zh, Zhang, LCh, and, Xia, Ch. Passengers’ Exposure to PM2.5, PM10,

and CO2 in Typical Underground Subway Platforms in Shanghai. Proceedings of the 8th

International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning, Lecture Notes in

Electrical Engineering, 2014, (261): 237-245

Jing, H, Deng, FR, Wu, ShW, Guo, XB. Comparisons of personal exposure to PM2.5 and CO by

different commuting modes in Beijing, China.. Science of the Total Environment, 2012,

(425): 52-59

Kam, W, Cheung, K, Daher, N, Sioutas, C. Particulate matter (PM) concentrations in

underground and ground-level rail systems of the Los Angeles Metro. Atmospheric

Environment, 2011, (45): 1506-1516

Kam, W, Ning, Z, Shafer, MM, Schauer, JJ, Sioutas, C. Chemical characterization and redox

potential of coarse and fine particulate matter (PM) in underground and ground-level rail

systems of the Los Angeles Metro. Environ Sci Technol, 2011b, (45): 6769-6776

Kijnzli, N, Kaiser, R, Studnicka, M, et, al. Public health impact of outdoor traffic-related air

pollution: a European assessment. Lancet, 2000, (365): 795-801

Kim, JB, Seyoung, Kim, Gwang-Jae, Lee, Gwi-Nam, Bae, Youngmin, Cho, Duckshin, Park,

Duck-Hee, Lee, Soon-Bark, Kwon. Status of PM in Seoul metropolitan subway cabins and

effectiveness of subway cabin air purifier (SCAP). Clean Techn Environ Policy, 2014,

(16): 1193-1200

49

Kim, KY, Kim, YSh, Roh, Y, Lee, Ch, M, Kim, ChN. Spatial distribution of particulate

matter(PM10 and PM2.5) in Seoul Metropolitan Subway stations. Journal of Hazardous

Materials , 2008, (154): 440-443

Klara, Midander, Karine, Elihn, Anna, Wallén, Lyuba, Belova, Anna-Karin, Borg, Karlsson,

Inger, Odnevall, Wallinder. Characterisation of nano- and micron-sized airborne and collected

subway particles, a multi-analytical approach. Science of the Total Environment, 2012,

(27): 390-400

Li, Guo, Yunjie, Hu, Qingqing, Hu, Jun, Lin, Chunlin, Li, Jianmin, Chen, Lina, Li, Hongbo, Fu.

Characteristics and chemical compositions of particulate matter collected at the selected

metro stations of Shanghai, China. Science of the Total Environment, 2014, (496): 443-

452

Li, Jinjuan, Shao, Longyi, Yang, Shushen. The mechanism of the health effects of fine particulate

matter. Environment Healthy, 2006, (2): 85-89

Moreno, T, Pérez, N, Reche, C, Martins, V, Miguel, E, de, Capdevila, M, Centelles, S,

Minguillón, MC, Amato, F, Alastuey, A, Querol, X, Gibbons, W. Subway platform air quality:

Assessing the influences of tunnel ventilation, train piston effect and station design.


Mugica-Alvarez, V, Figueroa-Lara, J, Romero-Romo, M, Sepulveda-Sanchez, J, Lopez-Moreno,

T. Concentrations and properties of airborne particles in the Mexico City subway system.


Pakbin, P, Hudda, N, et, al. Spatial and temporal variability of coarse (PM10-2.5) particulate

matter concentrations in the Los Angeles area. Aerosol Science and Technology, 2010,

7(44): 514-525

Park, Dong-Uk, Kwon-Chul, Ha. Characteristics of PM10, PM2.5, CO2 and CO monitored in

interiors and platforms of subway train in Seoul, Korea. Environment International, 2008,

(34): 629-634

Perrino, C, Marcovecchio, F, Tofful, L, Canepari, S. Particulate matter concentration and

chemical composition in the metro system of Rome, Italy. Environmental Science &

Pollution Research, 2015, 22 (12): 1-11

Pope, CA, Burnett, RT, Thun, MJ, Calle, EE, Krewski, D, Ito, K, Thurston, GD. Lung cancer,

cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution.

JAMA, 2002, 9(287): 1132-1141

Ruzmyn, MJ, Vilcassim, George, D, Thurston, Richard, E, Peltier, and, Terry, Gordon. 2015.

Black Carbon and Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Concentrations in New York City’s

Subway Stations. Environ. Sci.Technol., (48): 14738-14745

Şahin, UA, Onat, B, Stakeeva, B, Ceran, T, Karim, P. PM10 concentrations and the size

distribution of Cu and Fe-containing particles in Istanbul’s subway system. Transportation

Research Part D Transport & Environment, 2012, 17(1): 48-53

Son, JY, Lee, JT, Kim, KH, Jung, K, Bell, ML. Characterization of fine particulatematter and

associations between particulate chemical constituents and mortality in Seoul, Korea.

Environ Health Perspect, 2012, (120): 872-874

Tokarek, S, Bernis, A. An exemple of particle concentration reduction in parisian subway stations

by electrostatic precipitation. Environmental Technology, 2006, 27(11): 1279-1287

Wang, BQ, Liu, JF, Ren, ZH, Chen, RH. Concentrations, properties, and health risk of PM2.5 in

the Tianjin City subway system. Environ Sci Pollut Res, 2016, (23): 22647-22657

50

8. Keeping Abreast with Technology

Eva D'Souza

In order to get the most out of the technology you have and to compete in the business world one

has to keep abreast of emerging new technology. You deal with the technology for your personal

use, at home, at work and wherever you go to connect with people and places and to deliver the

work tasks. Technology is changing rapidly and to keep pace with it is not an easy task.

Having a technology awareness strategy should ease the pressure in keeping up to date with the

technology. Some of the following factors should help in developing the strategy:

List your requirements: Defining and developing specification what you want to deliver is

very important.

Define the period: Once you specify the project, defining the life span of various

elements is essential

Available resources: Engaging right resources and making sure the technology fit for

purpose is the foremost

Resilience: Any technology you use make sure it is robust and will sustain for the whole

life cycle of the project

Infrastructure: Choosing the right infrastructure to adopt technical changes, operating and

maintaining and recycling techniques to meet the financial targets.

Looking forward:

We are losing the track of technology and depend more on intelligent systems and loosing human

interaction. The same intelligent pace is not available when something goes wrong.

Intelligent approach to meet the system requirements throughout the project cycle

More reliable products

More technical resources

More intelligent practice in trouble shooting

More cost effective systems

51

9. Digital Futures

Peter McDermott

9.1 Conceptual Framework

The impact of digital technology and artificial intelligence on business, automation and

communications is transforming the world in many ways. The digital transformation is as

significant as the impact of new technology in the agricultural and industrial revolutions.

In the built environment digital technology continues to have a transformative impact. The

requirements and forms of many types of building, including shops, factories, offices and homes,

are all changing rapidly with the digital revolution. No one is sure where what the destination will

look like. Digital village halls? Smart offices? Pop up shopfront showrooms for digital retailers?

Social hubs? Living pods? Virtual homes? All established building paradigms are being explored

amid a new digital and globalised world. The impacts of climate change and popular unrest

caused by inequality and rapid change in economic distribution reflect a more uncertain future.

The increasing prevalence of digital technology in every facet of modern life has included a

significant impact on buildings. In fact, some would argue that the term “intelligent building”

itself reflects an attempt to define how this innovatory and ubiquitous technology has transformed

buildings and construction in the last thirty years.

From early attempts to automate control of buildings using large mainframe digital computers, to

the current prevalence of distributed digital controls (DDC) in commercial and now increasingly

in domestic buildings, to the redesign of the buildings themselves to reflect the organisational and

increased cooling needs of information and communications technology (ICT), these changes

have been immense.

Moore’s law states that computer power doubles in power every 2 years and even thought this

pace of change is set to slow, the new leaps forward in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will

soon impact design, construction and operation of digital buildings.


Most buildings currently use DDC to control their mechanical, electrical and public health (MEP)

services. In a typical modern building, small digital computers typically called controllers (DDC),

are distributed throughout the building. They monitor and control the local equipment in order to

achieve the internal conditions and energy performance required by the occupants and legislation.

The digital software applications used in these controllers are normally based on traditional

sequential Boolean logic and three term control loops. Fuzzy logic and machine learning

programmes are very rare.

In larger buildings, these discrete controllers are networked together with a personal computer or

server /client computer system. This provides a human supervisory arrangement usually

implemented by a real time graphical user interface. This networked system is called a Building

Automation and Control System (BACS) or Building Management System (BMS), sometimes a

Building Energy Management System (BEMS). Where the control of the MEP is integrated with

other digital systems in the building such as CCTV, access control, fire alarm systems etc., the

system is often called an integrated Building Management System (iBMS).

9.3 Future Scenarios

Several potential development trajectories for digital control of buildings are apparent.

Commercial market pressure, user preference and security concerns will determine which

52

approach prevails or dominates in the various applications.

Increasing use of cloud computing, where the digital software is hosted in remote data centres,

offers the possibility of building automation as a remote service. Buildings would consist of MEP

equipment with appropriate imbedded networked sensors and actuators. The digital intelligence

will be provided and hosted offsite and delivered via the internet by specialist providers. These

providers could also add value by use of “big data” analytics using machine learning and artificial

intelligence (AI) to optimise the performance of building services. This scenario would offer the

suppliers the benefits of a service type business model and the ongoing revenues associated with

it. For the building owners and users there is the promise of setting business orientated KPIs for

the specialist providers while giving them the freedom to focus on their core business. Whether

this constitutes a virtual Intelligent building or rather a dumber building that is merely a

component of a larger “Intelligent Organisation” is a debatable point. Opening up the building

control devices and networks to the internet offers a huge target and opportunity for malicious

fun for hackers, criminal gangs and state cyber warfare agencies. Cyber security becomes

paramount in preventing a possible panacea for building performance become a Trojan horse for

malevolent action by third parties currently unable to gain access to the buildings and people and

organisation that inhabit them due to traditional and well understood physical security measures.

Another development trajectory for digital control could be the increasing use of packaged MEP

equipment supplied with their own on-board DDC. The software could be optimised by the

manufacturers to the specific applications for the functionality of that packaged equipment. The

data from the packaged digital controls is then merely agglomerated via a standards based open

protocol network to an integrated user interface. This would create a secure integrated building

management system (iBMS) for the building. In this scenario, the building still retains the digital

intelligence and therefore it is, in itself, an Intelligent Building and can operate as such without

the connection to the wider internet and cloud based services Individual equipment suppliers

will monitor and their own specific applications and data can be gathered locally and exported for

external data analysis as required without the security risks of permanent online transparency.

These technology scenarios are a subset of much bigger those societal changes driven by

increasing globalisation, urbanisation, growing wealth in-equality, aging populations, and climate

change. The biggest impacts of digital transformation will be the increasing automation of human

work, the subsequent redundancy facing many tax paying workers but also possibly prefacing

super-abundant production and expansion of leisure time. This will force a paradigm shift in how

society organises itself and distributes the fruits of digital production throughout the human

population. The big question will be that faced only by the very wealthy in the past: What will

we do with our time? And in our field the smaller one “How will this affect our buildings?”

9.4 Development Strategy

Large internet giants like Google and Amazon are following the offsite intelligence scenario as

this plays to their strengths in data centre provision and big data analytics.

The traditional suppliers of BMS and process automation are developing ever more sophisticated

and cost effective products to support DDC or “edge computing” where the digital intelligence is

distributed locally near point of use and retained within the building


Academic Research could contribute by developing the basic knowledge of digital controls

theory and application within buildings. Optimisation involves meeting sometimes competing

criteria of occupant comfort, energy use, carbon emissions, and capital cost. Metrics that quantify

53

these parameters and assist the trade-offs optimisation requires can help with decision making.

9.6 Research Agenda

Future academic research could contribute by examining the relative costs of the differing

approached to providing digital automation and control in different applications, markets and

scale of buildings. Research in the better application of data analytics, machine learning and AI

as applied to building performance and optimisation could also be beneficial.

For the bigger digital society picture more research in the market and ownership models of

technology companies and the impact of un-equal income distribution and increase leisure time

on human health and wellbeing would help provide evidence for the ongoing political

deliberations on future economic and social policy.

The impact of digital technology and artificial intelligence on business, automation and

communications is transforming the world in many ways. This digital transformation is as

significant and disruptive as the impact of new technology was in the previous agricultural and

industrial revolutions.

In the built environment digital technology continues to have a transformative impact. In fact,

some would argue that the term “intelligent building” itself reflects an attempt to define how

this innovatory and ubiquitous technology has transformed buildings and construction in the

last thirty years.

From early attempts to automate control of buildings using central mainframe digital

computers, to the current prevalence of distributed digital controls (DDC) in commercial and

increasingly in domestic buildings, from mandatory BIM to the redesign of the buildings

themselves to reflect the needs of ubiquitous information and communications technology

(ICT), these changes have been transformative.

Differing trends in digital control of buildings are apparent. Commercial market pressure, user

preference and security concerns will determine which of these approaches prevails or

dominates in the various applications.

Increasing use of cloud computing, where the digital software is hosted in remote data centres,

offers the possibility of building automation as a remote service.

The traditional suppliers of BMS and process automation are developing ever more

sophisticated and cost-effective products to support DDC or “edge computing” where the

digital intelligence is implemented locally.

Which strategy eventually succeeds will be determined by the developers and users of the built

environment.

54

10. Upskilling for technology enhanced collaborative working

Tong Yang, Rosangela Tenorio

Building information modelling (BIM) gets people and information working together effectively

and efficiently through a set of interacting policies, processes and technologies (RICS 2014).

BIM implementation has been changing the dynamics & behaviour of the design-construction

supply chain, unlocking new, more efficient & collaborative ways of working. Meanwhile, this

digital platform enables forensic tracking of high-quality information to support business

outcomes through true collaborative effort amongst all stakeholders in the AEC industry (Holzer

2016; Strong & Burrows 2017).

10.1 nD capacity of BIM

Multi-dimensional implementations of BIM enable the integration of knowledge management

systems and empower handling and sharing of digital information during the building’s lifecycle

(B1M 2015). Inclusion of accumulated information to building’s operation phase through nBIM

enables better decision making on design choices for optimal economic, environmental and social

sustainability.

Figure 10.1 Illustration of 6D BIM (B1M 2015)

• 3D: The shared information model in a Common Data Environment (CDE). 3D information

model includes graphical digital prototype of a physical building embedded with non-graphical

information of actual building elements and systems for design analysis, visualization,

optimization, and lastly, project data handover to a client at completion.

• 4D: (3D + time) Construction planning and scheduling visualisations. Project scheduling allows

project team to map timings onto activities, simulate planned work is safely, logically and

efficiently sequenced, ensure proper logistics, space utilisation in the construction phases of the

project.

• 5D: (4D + cost) Cost estimation. The model uses intelligent content objects, various participants

(architects, designers, contractors and owners) can use the model for real-time cost planning and

trade verification. Real BIM objects from manufacturers will make cost calculation more accurate.

• 6D: (5D + operation and maintenance) Project lifecycle information. Owners/Facility managers

55

can use the model or export BIM objects property information to existing FM software to operate

and maintain the building with an integrated view of a built-asset throughout its life cycle, including

constructability, sustainability and future-proofing factors.

10.2 Creative play and collaborative learning

Digital technologies enabled BIM collaborative processes to significantly improve the efficiency

of design, construction and operation, and provide a platform for continuous upskilling for all

(Klaschka 2014; Sanchez et al. 2016). Since the invention of LEGO bricks 60 years ago, it is still

a legendary toy embracing the principles of systematic creativity into educational play. One of

the new comers, ‘littleBits’, a set of interchangeable electronics modular snapping blocks

introduced programming through simple and fun opportunities for creative design in various

cartoon/drama themes (Bdeir 2012). Meanwhile, playful and community engagement learning

activities were designed to create a successful collaborative environment- The Plug in units, that

encourage teamworking and social learning to think, create, operate and maintain buildings and

reuse it sustainably, productively and responsibly (Tenorio et al. 2018).

New generations of AEC students are very familiar with virtual gaming settings and generally

motivated in the teamwork approach assisted by BIM-enabled visualization and information

sharing (Sinclair 2006). Collaborative working is required to break the tradition of working in

silos and sub-optimal work sequences, so the learning and training programmes would be

benefited through multi-disciplinary cross-faculty curriculum planning and management (Jin et

al. 2017) as current changes happening in the industry is depicted in Fig. 10.2 (Bernstein 2015).

Figure 10.2. Collaborative information and knowledge management through a building’s

lifecycle (Bernstein 2015)

10.3 Upskilling and managing changes

As the PESTLE factors (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and

Environmental) that influence all decision-making will be constantly shifting, BIM technology and

processes provide a dynamic integrated learning platform/facility of sharing best practices and new

skillsets (Fig10.3) for AEC workforce (Succar 2009).

56

Figure 10.3. Individual BIM Competency Index (http://www.bimframework.info/competency/)

International standard ISO19650 supports the alignment of BIM standards to get a global industry

working in a consistent and intelligent way. BIM skills learning and development must adapt to

variations of PESTLE in a rapidly evolving industry. Effective change management with inclusive

and open workflow of BIM will anticipate the impacts of emerging disruptive technologies, ever-

more profound integration between information sources through all phases of projects, and

continuously industry wide digital transformation with future-proof skilled workforce.

While universities are facing constant competition to attract students and keeping up pace with

technology changes, the timely tasks for maintenance and renovation of ageing infrastructure with

funding constraints could be the most suitable onsite learning opportunities and challenges for

students. AEC students as the ambassadors of student communities could participate in key

stakeholder groups (project sponsor, end user and project instigator) engagement meetings, are

actively included in the communication process of planning and making technical, design and

management decisions.

In addition to sound digital technology skills, students also need to acquire essential soft skills of

effective cross-disciplinary collaborative working (Llewellyn 2015). Through project-based

experiential learning on BIM implementation from the perspective of the lifecycle of a built asset,

students can communicate with peers, academics, the supply chain, clients, customers and local

government, and delve into best practices in the real-world. Decades of practical lessons learnt

could be categorized and condensed into benchmark case studies through closer academic-

industry collaboration. By producing virtual projects with real client brief for group learning,

students would be encouraged to create ideas, make mistakes through learning-by-doing, and

deliver in line with clear industry requirements and expectations to bridge the performance gap

(iStructE 2017).

Students and staff with their mobiles and IoT devices could be a part of high resolution active

human sensor network for intelligent and sustainable university estate operation. Big data

analytics communicated through AI assistant could attract students to experience the first hand

human-building interaction and occupant behaviour impact on live building performance

dashboard (fig. 10.4). Through informed decision making on which data needs to be tracked over

time for obtaining insight on building performance, students are trained to filter out noise and

junks in the big data cloud and develop their critical thinking skills.

http://www.bimframework.info/competency/

57

Figure 10.4. The human–building interactive energy behaviour loop (Hong et al., 2016)

10.4 Open source intelligent buildings and social infrastructure for the future

In our digital age, the open building concept (Kendall 2006) evolved and transformed with latest

smart technology advances, AI enhanced design automation, offsite construction, etc. Futuristic

sustainable intelligent buildings and cities could be realized by nurturing crowd based open source

design and collective social infrastructure creation to improve the quality of life and the well-being

of citizens (Sinclair 2006, Ingels 2016).

References

B1M (2015) What is 6D BIM? | The B1M,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ecyS7Odww (access 18Feb2018).

Bernstein P. (2015) The future of making buildings, Phil Bernstein at TEDxYale,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg0gbG1DAkk (accessed 10Feb2018).

Bdeir A. (2012) Building blocks that blink, beep and teach, Ayah Bdeir at TED2012,

https://www.ted.com/talks/ayah_bdeir_building_blocks_that_blink_beep_and_teach and

https://littlebits.cc/ (accessed 18Feb2018).

Ingels, B. (2016) Social Infrastructure, Bjarke Ingels at TEDxEast,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PItGf69eaw (accessed 18Feb2018).

iStructE (2017) The built environment and the future of academic skills in higher education,

Annual Academics' conference 2017, The Institution of Structural Engineers. 14 September

2017, London. https://www.istructe.org/academicsconference.

Kendall, S (2006) Open Building Concepts, CIB W104 Open Building Implementation,

http://open-building.org/ob/concepts.html (accessed 18Feb2018).

Hong, T., Lange-Taylor, S. C., D'Oca, S., Yan, D., Corgnati, S. P. (2016) Advances in research

and applications of energy-related occupant behavior in buildings, Energy and Buildings

116 pp694-702.

Llewellyn, T. (2015) Performance Coaching for Complex Projects: Influencing Behaviour and

Enabling Change (Advances in Project Management), London and New York: Routledge.

RICS (2014) What is BIM? Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ,

http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/bim-intro/ (access 18Feb2018).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ecyS7Odww

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg0gbG1DAkk

https://www.ted.com/talks/ayah_bdeir_building_blocks_that_blink_beep_and_teach

https://littlebits.cc/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PItGf69eaw

https://www.istructe.org/academicsconference

http://open-building.org/ob/concepts.html

http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/glossary/bim-intro/

58

Succar, B. (2009). Building information modelling framework: a research and delivery

foundation for industry stakeholders. Automation in Construction, 18(3), 357-375.

Tenorio, R. Yang, T., Oro, B. (2018) Gansu Studio: ‘Plug-in’ school unit for rural China, Asia &

America Latina Journal, (Forthcoming Issue No.5/2018) www.asiaamericalatina.org

Sinclair, C. (2006) My wish: A call for open-source architecture, Cameron Sinclair at TED2006,

https://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_sinclair_on_open_source_architecture (accessed

18Feb2018).

http://www.asiaamericalatina.org/

https://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_sinclair_on_open_source_architecture

59

11. Wellbeing homes

Pete Halsall

Wellbeing homes are not an entirely new a concept; although for the last 50 years or so this idea

has been more about the avoidance of ill health, rather than the augmentation of health. Clearly

the focus of wellbeing homes now needs to return to how quality and longevity of life can be

enhanced and extended, sustainably, so that people can live longer, happier and more fulfilled

lives, with the wellbeing home as a key instrument for this. Frank Lloyd Wright made big

promises, or at least big assumptions, for how his homes could impact on the quality of lives of

their residents: “ People who live in these advanced houses must have a greater feeling for life,

and be more themselves. It can be very liberating to see so many elements of nature.” Those

designing and developing the wellbeing home must take on this level of confidence and ambition,

applying it to a contemporary setting. We are now in a period of quite extraordinary and

unprecedented change and disruption - with the likelihood in the very near future of autonomous

cars, digital lives, genetically modified babies, extraordinary technology - but what will all of this

mean to how, and where we live, and to the quality of our lives ? At the same time as we race

towards potentially exponential technological development, we are becoming increasing at odds

with both the natural environment, but also potentially with our own nature. Surely a wellbeing

home is one that, fundamentally, seeks to reconcile these increasingly dramatic and opposing

forces so that we really need to live in much more natural and naturalistic environments, being in

touch with and at ease with nature and our own nature, whilst enjoying the fruits of technology

and harnessing hyper change to enhance wellbeing.

Ironically, the first thing that we have to do then is to get people as much out of their homes, as

into them. Estimates vary, but it seems that in the West we now spend up to 90% of our time

indoors; with the unsurprisingly attendant health issues - both psychological and physiological

ensuing; social isolation, insufficient exercise, obesity, increasing dislocation from both nature,

and therefore the corollary of that, an increasing dislocation from our own nature. So, with no

small amount of creative tension, the essence of a wellbeing home must be one which we are

both happy to be in, and at the same time, one which we are happy to not be in. The wellbeing

home must be conceived as one which is as much outdoors as indoors, a lifestyle if you wish that

has both the hardware of bricks and mortar, but also the software of increasingly complex and

imaginative lifestyle choices.

In conceiving of the wellbeing home in a much more flexible way, then we need to think in terms

of living in the city, and only, in part, in our homes. This indeed reflects how many Asian cities

now are; In Seoul in South Korea, birthday parties are held in public parks, not lounges, rooms to

play video games are rented with friends and not always now played in bedrooms, studying is

done in generously sized coffer bar lounges or bookshops; indeed home is the last place that you

go to after work, rather than the first place. So that the effect of all of this is that a wellbeing

home makes no sense if we don’t at the same time have the wellbeing city. Increasingly we

should think of the city as where we live and the home as just one part of an increasingly

complex patchwork of places, services and new ideas yet to be invented. We must then seek and

strive equally for both the wellbeing home as well as the wellbeing city; the whole to be natural,

vibrant, interesting, challenging, sociable, productive, full of multi-sensory experience, beautiful

- and safe, both physically and also digitally, free of crime and cybercrime. Maybe we should

think more about the nuclear family model, which is now sub-optimising how we live - perhaps it

60

is now the ultimate barrier to a more collaborative and sharing based society where we must now

with scarce optimise housing, cities and economics.

Focusing on the wellbeing home as a necessary subset of the necessarily wellbeing based city, we

can see that the environmental aspects, both inside and out, are fundamental. We already know

that our definition of what is functional needs serious re-thinking, and has largely been framed in

the last 150 years around a startling ignorance of our own nature; so that a beautiful and engaging

environment is not something which is nebulas or destroying of efficiency and utility, but rather

something which enhances and optimises our psychological and physiological functioning - thus

increasing utility and efficiency; the ultimate, ‘value added’ experience if you like, but played out

in the everyday with the objective to enhance and extend both quality and longevity of life.

The state of the art for the wellbeing home has to start with high quality architecture, itself,

arguably, the highest of all art because it can contain and contextualise all other art, and indeed

science and technology; this must be the framework and concept around which everything else

functions. Indeed, it was Frank Lloyd Wright who also said “I believe that a house is more of a

home by being a work of art.” Some may say that this is an impossible dream - but the reality of

modern manufacturing and consumerism is that pretty much everything becomes economically

available to the majority, not just the minority of the population, in due course. We have then to

start with economic and development models which free the market and the forces of innovation

to deliver what everybody wants - a beautiful, wellbeing home, in a beautiful, wellbeing city, at

prices that we can all afford. 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing techniques are

making the decorative, the beautiful, the fractal - very readily available, and so there are

increasingly no excuses for a lack of beauty.

From a technological stand point, we are now at a point we were are no longer constrained,

certainly in the same way that we were in the past, by what technology is available - we can co-

create, curate and commission new technologies to serve a plethora of lifestyle and wellbeing

needs around the home. We must mine the huge amount of industrial and academic research to

find new scientific understandings and to create new technological paradigms and specific

solutions. The increasing blurring of what is home, what is housing technology, and what is ‘us’,

rapidly reframes and extends what is possible. Fitbits which measure our skin temperature can be

used to control heating systems - our outward breath can be monitored to set and vary ventilation

controls - in each case room by room. Why not? Remember, the limit of technology, certainly in

its conceptualization, has always been the limit of our imagination.

To accomplish all of this we must as part of creating the wellbeing home and the wellbeing city

take back our democracy and increasingly advocate strongly and determinedly for change at the

city level; for genuine and meaningful citizen participation in city governance. Citizens know

better than the vast majority of designers now, and that is what is beauty is. If we believe that

democracy is worth it, and that it counts, then we should not bat an eye lid. The wellbeing home

and the wellbeing city need to be thought of as key aspects of a sustainable, egalitarian and truly

democratic future; our first job then is to think, to design, to realise phenomena and new concepts

at the socio-economic, and also at the pscyho-political levels, so that we can create the context in

which the wellbeing home can become ubiquitous, by being affordable. In other words if we are

to have the wellbeing home and the wellbeing city then we must first create the political and

economic context in which this can happen.

61

12 Bioelectromagnetic Design

Isaac Jamieson

12.1 Conceptual framework:

What are we talking about? Game-changing interdisciplinary design/disruptive innovation that

blends cutting edge biological research with technological innovation and international best

practice to create new design paradigms for biologically friendly buildings, technologies and

environments.

Technological innovation

An essential component aiding advancement in the new ‘Bioelectromagnetic Age’ is the creation

of more bioelectromagnetically friendly intelligent and responsive buildings and technologies.

The need for detailed research into how to biologically optimise electromagnetic exposures in the

built environment is long overdue, with rapid progress, development and deployment of effective

(often low cost) technologies and techniques appearing possible in many areas.

This ground breaking initiative is also set to help the building industry better tap into the global

Wellness Market, a trillion dollar industry that is already three times larger than the worldwide

pharmaceutical industry. It represents disruptive innovation at its very best.

Enhancing health and well-being

We are presently experiencing exponential growth in environmental exposures to manmade

electromagnetic phenomena. Often little thought is given to their potential positive or negative

biological effects, a shortfall that can be actively addressed.

It is very important for us to investigate how healthier “next generation” bioelectromagnetic

environments and technologies can be created.


What are the issues and where are we today?

Numerous studies demonstrate that electromagnetic phenomena can be biologically active.

Knowledge already exists on how we can create healthier environments and this can be readily

built upon.

Bioelectromagnetic health matters

The World Health Organization/International Agency for Research on Cancer already classifies

radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields “as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)”.

Some experts suggest RF radiation should be upgraded to Group 2A, ‘probably carcinogenic’, or

even Group 1 ‘carcinogenic’. [Research also indicates that 5G frequencies and other millimeter

wavelengths can be biologically active even at very low intensities].

Mains frequency magnetic fields too are presently classified as group 2B carcinogens

(WHO/IARC 2002), and there is evidence that excess electrostatic charge and mains frequency

electric fields [at levels encounterable in many indoor environments] can, at least indirectly,

negatively impact health. Studies have additionally shown that the types of lighting and glazing

that are specified can have marked biological effects. Again, healthier solutions can be specified

and/or created.

62

Such findings indicate that a strong opportunity exists for the building industry to be better

educated on how to optimise exposures, create “Win/Win situations”, and protect against risk.

There is a need to reduce “electromagnetic pollution”

This present initiative helps address the need to optimise biological performance through

intelligent design and create safe environments for individuals who are electromagnetically

hypersensitive (EHS) or otherwise adversely affected by electromagnetic pollution. It

additionally helps aid productivity, fosters wellbeing, better protects the environment, and creates

fertile ground for bio-friendly innovation.

[As an aside, “electromagnetic pollution” also hampers the effective use of technology. IEEE

SPECTRUM reports electronic noise is drowning out the Internet of Things, and will become a

very expensive problem to deal with unless action is taken now].

Estimates for the number of individuals with EHS vary, with several countries reporting it may

affect between 4-10% of their populations. In the UK alone this would correspond to

approximately 2.5 to 6.3 million people, a number well in excess of the 1-2% of its population

using wheelchairs for which the building industry already makes provisions.

Other members of the community are also considered by some experts to be at higher risk from

exposure. It is our duty to create inclusive environments that minimise / avoid such risks and act

to actively improve wellbeing.

Need to design in inclusivity and wellbeing initiatives into projects

The WELL® Building Standard already takes into account the need for EMF-protected design. It

is becoming increasingly important that we seek to intelligently optimise the electromagnetic

characteristics of our designs to address such matters.

Best practice can help ensure that the environments and technologies we design and/or specify in

this “Bioelectromagnetic Age” aid social cohesion and comply with the United Nations

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Liability issues

Many insurance companies are now refusing to cover claims linked with electromagnetic

radiation. It is vital that we are in the forefront in addressing such challenges, and use this

occurrence as a springboard for beneficial change and innovation in our industry.

Legal action and ruling issues

There have already been legal actions and rulings won relating to the effects of electromagnetic

pollution. Cases appear likely to greatly increase unless proper proactive measures are put in

place.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders in this issue include: building professionals; medical doctors; members of the

general public (including those who are EHS); scientists; manufacturers; ministries of health;

NGOs; product designers; and technology companies.

‘Win/Win’ situations are possible, and can raise the accomplishments of Intelligent and

Responsive Buildings to a whole new level.

We have a duty to our future selves to develop robust policies and practices that will help

63

continually improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and the environment.

12.3. Future scenario

In 10 years’ time we wish to be in a position where “bioelectromagnetic environmental issues”

are openly addressed in the design of buildings, technologies and environments, with ongoing

best practice involving multiple stakeholders continually seeking to refine and improve measures

taken.

By that time it is intended that many buildings will have biologically optimised “low

anthropogenic EMF zones” (so called “white zones”) as standard, as will the infrastructures that

allow people access to them. Some may also feature special “bioelectromagnetic climates” that

further aid individual wellbeing and performance.

3D EMF design templates

It is envisioned that 3D EMF templates will be used as standard as spatial planning tools to help

reduce individuals’ exposures to “electromagnetic pollution”.

Optimised exposures to electromagnetic phenomena

Exposures to electromagnetic phenomena will be fine-tuned (wherever possible) to aid circadian

rhythms, general biological functioning, and task performance.

The effects of electromagnetic phenomena will be taken into consideration as standard, as will

the need to have key areas and green infrastructures free from “electromagnetic pollution” to help

cater for those who have become sensitive to electromagnetic phenomena, those who wish to live

in more natural electromagnetic environments on a daily basis as a matter of personal choice, and

those wishing to have “digital detoxes”.

It is intended that “white zones” / biologically optimised exposure zones will be provided as

standard in many public spaces including, health centres, hospitals, grocery stores, petrol stations,

libraries, parks, theatres, etc., to permit inclusive design that caters for those who are EHS. It is

also intended that ‘white zones’ will be created within housing developments, workspaces, etc.,

for similar reasons.

It is expected that in 10 years’ time, provision of external low-EMF green space and low-EMF

green corridors will become a design norm as we learn to work more in harmony with nature,

rather than against it, and gain greater understanding of the electromagnetic nature of all life.

Ideally by this time period, all technologies will be transitioning to more bio-friendly versions of

their former selves.

[With proper planning such initiatives can also contribute towards electromagnetic pulse (EMP)

protection. At present little is done to counter such threats in the design of the built environment,

even though they are Tier 1 risks. It is suggested that ≥20% of all developments should be low

EMF and EMP-shielded with on-site power generation. Such provision will significantly improve

national security and resilience].

It is envisioned that bioelectromagnetic design skills and EM shielding skills will be in high

demand.


Much of what needs to be known to create safer, more “bioelectromagnetically friendly”

64

buildings, environments and technologies is already known. A great deal of this intellectual

challenge is already solved, or provides strong clues as to what areas of investigation need to be

taken to determine the best solutions. The opportunities for game-changing innovation are

virtually endless.

The willingness to open our eyes to the exciting opportunities that exist is all that is required to

take the first step into a brave new future.


R&D can make substantial contributions through bringing together and linking knowledge and

best practice from all around the world on areas that can impact “bioelectromagnetic health”. It

can also be of tremendous service in testing theories and refining what is already known. It is

predicted that funding such areas will provide a sound return on investment for those interested in

creating a more bio-friendly world.

12.6 Research Agenda

The worldwide research agenda is to assemble interdisciplinary teams of renowned experts and

suitably qualified additional stakeholders to blend cutting-edge biological research with

technological innovation, international best practice and “real world” needs.

Work required includes detailed investigation of the potential beneficial and detrimental effects

of exposures to a wide variety of electromagnetic phenomena, and best practice standards that

exist to date. Luckily much initial work in these areas has been undertaken and it provides us

with indications of what is required to progress still further with good chances of success.

It is envisaged that such a wide-scale interdisciplinary international effort will reveal numerous

potential technical breakthroughs and best practice improvements that can substantially enhance

the design and operation of intelligent and responsive buildings. With the air of openness and

international unity being encouraged for this topic, and the great breakthroughs that are likely, it

is envisaged that cooperation between research and practice will be high.

The ‘Win/Win’ situations that are achievable can raise the abilities and performance

characteristics of Intelligent and Responsive Buildings to a whole new level. They can also

change the face of technology as we know it. The Dawn of the “Bioelectromagnetic Age” is upon

us.

65

Conclusions


The Roadmap has distinctive themes which set the pathway for the future.

WHAT ARE INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS?

Intelligence has three parts cognitive, emotional and practical. A building needs to reflect this. So

an intelligent building will responsive to people in terms of not only being functional but to the

human senses besides serving a community in the location. It will be resource effective in terms of

energy , water and waste with low pollution. It will be smart in terms of technology selected to

enable the systems to respond effectively but also make them easier for people to use. Today there

is a focus on health and wellbeing and so intelligent buildings must produce a healing environment.

Buildings need to be functional and practical but also expressive. Equally important is the

infrastructure that services buildings and the people moving between them.

LESSONS FROM HISTORY

Intelligent buildings are not new. Various periods in history just express them in different ways.

Vernacular architecture shows how people from all parts of the world have adapted to working and

living in all sorts of climates. From the igloo in the Arctic to yurts in Mongolia and the Malaysian

house all are examples. The wind towers and mashrabiya in Islamic architecture show how natural

ventilation and shading can be achieved in a natural and aesthetic way. The basic principles of

passive design are embedded here in the vernacular across the ages and is highly relevant today in

order to reduce energy consumption. These basic principles remain true today even for highly smart

buildings endowed with high technology.

LESSONS FROM NATURE

Biomimetic architecture uses Nature as the inspiration because it is economic in use of energy and

materials. Whether it is spiders webs that stimulated Frei Otto to build lightweight tension

structures or the radiolarian which were in Buckminster Fuller’s mind for his designs of geodesic

domes besides many more examples leads us to believe Nature has an abundance of examples

which can inspire architecture. Bernard Rudofsky’s book in 1964 Architecture without Architects

is a reminder of this belief.

Biophilia is our innate love of Nature and it can calm and soothe working or living conditions so

they are less stressful.

Bio- facades using smart bricks embedded with microbes that generate electricity; chemo

luminescence---like the fireflies or angler fish-- for lighting without electricity ; algae living

walls to harvest and derive biogas; use of walls with artificial leaves using photosynthesis to

generate hydrogen are just some ideas.

BUILDINGS FOR PEOPLE

Our designs affect people’s physical, mental and social wellbeing. The environment with other

factors is a significant cause of absenteeism and presenteeism which in the UK cost about £100bn

a year So for many reasons including productivity the intelligent building must be a healthy place

to live and work. The latest work by World Green Building Council and their regions; BCO and

others are reviewing the methods for rating health and wellbeing including the WELL Standard,

Fitwel and Flourish models among others which give a holistic assessment of physical, perception

and economic factors.

66

ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

The rapid pace of technology and the opportunities it offers cannot be ignored. However there are

downsides too . Buildings need to focus on simplicity not complexity. The Fourth Revolution is

underway and robotics; quantum computing; internet of things; smart materials; nanotechnology;

3D/4D printing; artificial intelligence are some of the technologies which are already impacting

architecture. Intelligent buildings need to be adaptable to change to use the opportunities offered

by these technologies for new and old buildings.

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Effective and efficient use of resources like energy ,water and waste is vital so CO2 emissions and

pollution are low. Low or neutral carbon buildings can be improved so we see the emergence of

carbon positive buildings. Buildings can become energy generators.

DECISION MAKING

At every stage in planning, design, construction , commissioning and post occupancy evaluation

decisions have to be made which offer continuity from one stage to the next. There has to be a

vision. There has to be connectivity between all the stakeholders. The latest work on decision

making with respect to ‘wicked’ problems will be reviewed and a transdisciplinary approach with

collective thought advocated using holistic and systems thinking. Success depends on stakeholders

collaborating as an integrated team. Long term thinking is essential with an emphasis on value not

short term costs.

POST OCCUPANCY EVALUATION OF INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS

We need to share successes as well as failures so we do not keep repeating the same mistakes. Let

us be an open forum to learning from each other.

Intelligent Building have existed for thousands of years but different centuries and cultures express

them in different ways so what is an intelligent building? Is it one that serves the needs of people

in functional ways but is also beautiful not just visually but in the simplicity and sensory ways it

achieves these needs. Examples might be an igloo, a Japanese tea house, the Malaysian house or a

courtyard design but there are many other vernacular types throughout history each offering

ingredients that make up the recipe for the essence of an intelligent building.

In the 21st century intelligent buildings tend to be ones that are very technology driven but already

we can see the impact of changes in society in that they need to be responsible for health and well-

being of the occupants so bring in a caring and humane approach that offsets the hard faces of

construction and technology. Too often an intelligent building is reduced down to the choice of a

building management system but there is much more to it than that.

During his lifetime Wotton published two works: The Elements of Architecture (1624), which is a

free translation of de Architectura by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, executed during his time in Venice

and a Latin prose address to the king on his return from Scotland (1633). Wotton shares authorship

of the quote "Well building hath three conditions: firmness, commodity, and delight," with

Vitruvius, from whose de Architectura Wotton translated the phrase; some have termed his

Elements a paraphrase rather than a true translation, and the quote is often attributed to Vitruvius.

Today that phrase might be durability, resilience, function and beauty.

Of course these are basic primary needs but they can be interpreted in various ways. Each building

will be nuanced in a particular way according to the design team. It is a composition but unlike a

music score composed by one mind buildings are a composite of many thoughts from many minds

67

that make up the design team, many educated in different ways too, and therein lies the source of

many problems. Attaining connectivity of thoughts to achieve a vision is not easy but when

successful is powerful.

Can Intelligent Buildings provide alternative approaches to heating ventilating and air-conditioning

and buildings? Lessons from history as well as the natural world show that they can. These feature

in Chapters 2 and 3. Throughout history clean air, sunlight, sound and water have been fundamental

to the needs of people. Today, sensitive control of these needs may use either traditional or new

solutions, or a blend of these, but we have to remember that the built environment is fundamental

to mankind’s sense of well-being and it is the totality of this idea that we need to understand and

value even in this low carbon economy age. Intelligent buildings respect these values for the

individual, the business organisation and for society, and we can learn a lot about intelligent

buildings by looking at the history of world architecture and seeing how people have adapted

buildings to deal with the rigors of climate and the changing face of civilisation. There are also

lessons from Nature because animals and plants have evolved to use materials and expend energy

optimally in the various changing and dynamic environments across the world in deserts, arctic

regions, hot-humid, hot-dry or temperate climates. Similarly buildings are now having to absorb

the impact of the technological age, but the implications of climate change and the need for healthy

working conditions are now dominating our thinking as people become more knowledgeable about

the impacts of the environment not only on ourselves as individuals but also in the context of

communities locally and globally .

Intelligent buildings should be sustainable, healthy, technologically aware, meet the needs of

occupants and business, and should be flexible and adaptable to deal with change. The life cycle

process of planning, design, construction, commissioning and facilities management including

post-occupancy evaluation are all vitally important when defining an intelligent building. Buildings

comprise many systems devised by many people, yet the relationship between buildings and people

can only work satisfactorily if there is an integrated design, construction and operational team

possessing a holistic vision working together from the commencement of a project. To effect a

common vision, it is essential for architects, engineers and clients to work closely together

throughout the planning, design, construction and operational stages of the buildings total life

cycle. This means that planners, consultants, contractors, manufacturers and clients must share a

common vision and set of intrinsic values, and must also develop a single understanding of how

the culture of an organisation with its patterns of work are best suited to a particular building form

and layout when served by the most appropriate environmental systems. A host of technologies are

emerging that help these processes, but in the end it is how we think about achieving responsive

buildings that matters. Intelligent buildings can cope with social and technological change and

should be adaptable to short-term and long-term human needs, however, from the outset this must

be delivered through a vision and understanding of the basic function of the building.

We need to consider how buildings affect people in various ways. They need to be expressive as

well as being functional. The environments they create can help us work more effectively because

they can present a wide range of stimuli for our senses to react to besides satisfying our primeval

needs of warmth, safety and security. Intelligent buildings are designed to be aesthetic in sensory

terms including being visually appealing; they are buildings in which occupants experience delight,

freshness, a feeling of space, they should invite daylight into their interiors, and should provide a

social ambience which contributes to a general sense of pleasure and improvement in mood. In

Chapter 4 I introduce the idea of flourishing environments. Of course the culture, the management

and job satisfaction are key but this does not subdue the importance of the built environment.

68

Buildings consume a great amount of energy and water in their construction and during their total

life-cycle. They use large quantities of materials and aggregates and generate waste and pollution

at every stage of their production. It is no longer acceptable to consider a building and its systems

in isolation from its social impacts. This becomes critical with the growth of megacities which is

part of a rising trend towards urban living. Modern liveable cities comprise intelligent and

sustainable buildings and infrastructure however they should be designed to show respect for the

natural environment and the health of the inhabitants. Sustainable and intelligent cities are

composed of buildings supported by intelligent infrastructures created for the well-being of

residential, commercial and industrial communities.

The key criteria for achieving good quality intelligent buildings are:

• Satisfying client and supply stakeholder objectives and needs;

• Meeting social and environmental needs

• Recognition of available resources.

An intelligent building starts with a good client brief and should comprise of:

• A clearly articulated project vision and mission;

• A recognition of the planning, design and procurement realities

• Clarity about the use of a whole-life value approach.

By using integrated design teams and user centric design buildings will have effective connectivity

in terms of the occupants and the material resources.. Sustainability and a focus on people adds

value. Lessons for Nature and passive architecture together with the judicious use of innovative

technology can enable flexibility and an economic use of resources.

The creation of shared visions, effective teams, clear structures and robust processes ensures that

the intelligent building being constructed will demonstrate the purpose for which it was conceived.

Times are certainly changing so there needs to be an outlook by the project team which is long

term and not just short-term. In a way this Roadmap is about change as reflected in society besides

the advancements in technology that we create.

CIB General SecretariatVan der Burgh weg 12628 CS DelftThe NetherlandsE-mail: [email protected]

CIB Publication 415 / ISBN 978-90-803022-9-7

Documents

Intelligent and Responsive Buildings